
Proceedings 



of the 



Agricultural 
Conference 



and 



Corn Show 



Held by the 



Corn Exchange National 
Bank :: :: Philadelphia 



City Hall 
Bourse 

Bellevue-Stratford 
December 6, 7, 8, 1913 



Corn Exchange National 
Bank Corn Show and 
Agricultural Conference 



Assisted by 



The Commercial Exchange 
State College of Pennsylvania 
City Club of Philadelphia 
Pennsylvania Railroad Company 
Board of Trade 
Bourse 

Philadelphia Produce Exchange 
Pennsylvania Rural Progress 
Association 



The University of Pennsylvania 

Ohio Society of Philadelphia 

Chamber of Commerce 

Merchants' and Manufacturers' 
Association 

Hardware Merchants' and Manu- 
facturers' Association 

Philadelphia Society for Promoting 
Agriculture 



Philadelphia 

Thursday, Friday, Saturday 
December 4, 5, 6, 1913 



PAGE 

"The State and the Farmer." Dr. William D. Hurd 19-1 

"The Work of a Produce Exchange.'^ K. P. Wescott 20.t 

Address. Edward J. Cattell 216 

Pennsylvania Eural Progress Association. Pres. Mrs. E. E. Smith. . 223 

"Suceessfnl Farming." John Honey cntt 231 

"The Dollars and Cents Question on the Farm." (Illustrated.) 

Dr. G. F. Warren 238 

"Agricultural Co-operation." Gilford Pinchot 235 

Appendix : 

Reprints of folders, etc. 

Corn Contest Announcement 251 

■ Suggestions on Selecting Ears 257 

Score Card 357 

Stationery 260 

Winners in Contest 261 

Potato Embargo, Eeport of 

C. S. Kates 364 

Potato Embargo 

Decision 266 

Philadelphia Agricultural Service Bureau 

Charles S. Calwell 267 

C. S. Kates Ill 



[Reprint of Programme.] 

CORN EXCHANGE NATIONAL BANK CORN SHOW AND 
AGRICULTURAL CONFERENCE, 

Philadelphia, 

Thursday, Friday, Saturday, December 4, 5, 6, 1913. 

ASSISTED BY 

The Commercial Exchange The University of Pennsylvania 

State College of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Rm-al Progress Association 

City Club of Philadelphia Ohio Society of Philadelphia 

Pennsylvania Railroad Company Chamber of Commerce 

Board of Trade Merchants' and Manufacturers' Association 

Bourse Hardware Merchants' and Manufacturers' Association 

Philadelphia Produce Exchange Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture 



PURPOSE. 

To demonstrate the mutual interests of the city and country in 
agriculture. 

By presenting the various means for increasing efficiency in the 
business of farming, such as: 

1. Marketing; 

2. Transportation; 

3. Surveys — Farm and Soil; 

4. Farm Bureaus; 

5. Corn Shows; 

and therefore the advantage of a Farm Bureau for Philadelphia to act 
as a "Clearing House" for Agricultural affairs for Pennsylvania, New 
Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. 



PLACE OF MEETING. 
All sessions of Conference, except Thursday afternoon and Saturday 
afternoon, City Hall Council Chambers. Thursday afternoon session, 
Witherspoon Hall. 

CORN SHOW, BOURSE BUILDING. 



OFFICERS. 

Chairman, Charles S. Calwell 

Chairman Joint Committee Secretary Treasurer 

Clarence Sears Kates C. W. Summerfield N. B. Kelly 

Address all communications relative to conference to 

Mrs. Edith Ellicott Smith, 
President Pennsylvania Rural Progress Association, 
Box 1905, Philadelphia. 

Exhibit of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company at Broad Street Station Agricul- 
tiu-al Education Train and a Dairy, Refrigerator and Live-Stock Cars. 

(5) 



6 

[Reprint of Programme.] 
PROGRAMME. 
PHILADELPHIA DAY. 
Thursday, December 4, 1913, 10 a. m. 
Council Chambers, City Hall. 

Address of Welcome, Mayor Rudolph Blankenburg 

Response, Charles S. Calwell, 

President Corn Exchange National Bank 

"The Inter-Relation of City and Country," Hon. Thomas P. Gore, 

U. S. Senator from Oklahoma; Chairman 
Senate Committee on Agriculture. 

"The Rural Situation," Mrs. Edith Elhcott Smith, 

President Pennsylvania Rural Progress 
Association. 
"Market Conditions," Dean R. L. Watts, 

State College, Pa. 

Afternoon, 2 o'Clock. General Topic, "Marketing." 

Witherspoon Hall. 

honorary chairman, antonio sans, esq. 
President Commercial Exchange 

"City Trade Bodies and Agriculture," C. L.Logan, 

Binghamton Chamber of Commerce 

"Problems in Marketing Eggs," E. W. Benjamin, 

Department of Poultry Husbandry, Col- 
- - - lege of Agriculture, Cornell Univer- 
sity. 
"Problems in Marketing Poultry," C. L. Opperman, 

Maryland 

"City-Country Unity Through Market Bureaus," Prof. C. L. King, 

Wharton School, University of Penna 

Evening, 8 o'Clock. General Topic, "Milk as a Business." 
chairman, charles s. calwell, esq. 

President Corn Exchange National Bank. 

"The Economics of the Milk Question" (Illustrated), 

Dr. John R. Williams, 
Rochester Chamber of Commerce. 

"Market Problems of the Milk Question," Prof. C. W. Larson, 

State College Pa. 

Discussion by Dealers and Farmers. 

Agricultural Extension, Prof. McDowell, 

State College, Pa. 



[Reprint of Programme.] 

PROGRAMME. 
CORN DAY. 
The Ohio Prize Corn Growers' Association (two thousand in the 
party), will visit the Corn Show on 

Friday, December 5th. 
Special prizes will be given by the Corn Exchange National Bank 
for the best five ears grown by members of this Ohio Association. 

Friday, December 5, 1913, 10 a. m. 

Council Chambers, City Hall. 

chairman, clarence sears kates, esq. 

Philadelphia Society Promoting of Agriculture. 
"The Rural Organization Service," Dr. T. N. Carver, 

Director, Rural Organization Service, U. S. Dept. Agriculture, Washington. 
" Increasing Grain Production," Don Blair, 

Sugar Grove, lU. 

"The Farm Bureau; What It Is and What It Does," A. B. Ross, 

County Agent, Farm Bureau, Bedford County, Pa. 
"Trustee, Landlord and the Farm Bureau," Lardner Howell, Esq., 

Girard Trust Company, Philadelphia. 

Discussion. 

Afternoon, 2 o'Clock. General Topic, "Markets: Cold Storage," 
Council Chambers, City Hall. 

honorary chairman, alba B. JOHNSON, ESQ. 

President Baldwin Locomotive Works. 

' ' Municipal Markets, ' ' Hon. Cyrus O . Miller, 

Chau-man, Mayor of New York's Committee on Municipal Markets and President 

of the Borough of the Bronx. 

"Results of Railroad Co-operation in Transportation of Farm Products," 

Dr. Mary E. Pennington, 
Director, Food Research Laboratory, Bureau of Chemistry, United States Dept. 

of Agriculture. 
" Cold Storage," Frank A. Home. 

President, Merchants' Refrigerating Co., New York City. 

Evening, 8 o'Clock. 
Council Chambers, City Hall, 
chairman, charles z. lyon, esq. 

Vice-President Hardware Merchants' and Maniifacturing Association. 

"Boys and Girls Corn and Tomato Clubs" (Illustrated). 0. H. Benson, 

United States Dept. of Agriculture. 

"Whirlwind Alfalfa Campaign" (Illustrated), Prof. P. G. Holden, 

Chicago 

"Boys Illustrating Corn Club Organizing," Russell Lord, 

Chairman, Student Committee of the Oread Country Life School, Glencoe, Md. 



8 

[Reprint of Programme.] 
PROGRAMME. 
BANKERS' DAY. 

Saturday, December 6, 10 a. m. 

Council Chambers, City Hall. 

general topic, '' agricultural credit." 

"The Relation of Agricultural Credit and Co-operation to the Cost of 
Food in Philadelphia," J. Clyde Marquis, 

Delegate of the City of Philadelphia to 
the American Commission on Euro- 
pean Agricultural Credits; x\ssociate 
Editor "The Country Gentleman." 
''The Farmer's Thirty-five-Cent Dollar," Herbert Collingwood, 

Editor "The Rural New Yorker." 
"The Efficiency Movement and the Farm Problem," 

Dr. J. Russell Smith, 
Wharton School, University of Penna. 
"Agricultural Credit," Dr. John Lee Coulter, 

United States Dept. of Commerce and 
Secretary of the U. S. Commission to 
Study European Credits. 

Afternoon, 2 o'Clock. 
Belle vue-Stratford Hotel. 

(Admission by irwitation only) 

Address, Charles S. Calwell, 

President Corn Exchange National Bank. 
Address, B. F. Harris, 

Chairman of the Agricultural Commission 
of the American Bankers' Association, 
Champaign, 111. 
"Farm Restoration," Forrest Crissey, 

"The State and the Farmer," Dr. Wilham D. Hurd, 

Massachusetts Agricultural College, Amherst, Mass. 
"The Work of a Produce Exchange," N. P. Wescott, 

Eastern Shore of Virginia Produce Exchange, Onley, Va. 

Evening, 8 o'Clock. 
Council Chambers, City Hall. 

"Successful Farming," John Honeycutt, 

Business Man and Farmer, Amboy, 111. 
"The Dollars and Cents Question on the Farm" (Illustrated), 

Dr. G. F. Warren, 
College of Agriculture, Cornell, N. Y. 
"Agricultural Co-operation," Gifford Pinchot. 



PHILADELPHIA DAY 



Thursday Morning, December 4, 1913, 10 o'Clock. 
Council Chamber, City Hall. 



The conference was called to order by Charles S. Calwell, president 
of the Corn Exchange National Bank, who said: 

I am sorry that we cannot have with us this morning Mayor Blanken- 
burg. His Honor is not very well, and is at the present time in the South. 
He is greatly interested in the conference, and regrets that he cannot be 
here himself. Director of Public Safety Porter, however, will speak on 
behalf of His Honor. 

ADDRESS OF WELCOME 

Director of Public Safety George W. Porter: Mr. Chairman, 
and Ladies and Gentlemen: I always state on occasions of this kind that 
1 fail to understand why it is necessary to call in the Police Department, 
but I am not here this morning as a representative of the Police Depart- 
ment; I am a substitute for the Mayor, who, as most of you know, is 
unavoidably detained by reason of illness. I have a message from him 
to explain to you his heartfelt greetings, and to say to you that he regrets 
more than he can tell, his inability to be with you. 

He made an engagement several months ago to participate in this 
conference, but, of course, by reason of illness he will not be able to do so. 

On behalf of the city, I msh to extend to all those who come from 
beyond its confines, a most hearty welcome. We are very proud of 
Philadelphia. We are proud of it because it has been and is an hospitable 
city. We usually say to those who come to visit us that we know how to 
entertain you. I am quite sure that the programme that has been arranged 
by the committee in charge will demonstrate the ability of Philadelphia 
to do that for which we are quite famous. 

I regret that I am unable to speak to you upon the subjects which 
are to be discussed here this morning, although I am a farm product 
myself, having served an apprenticeship of eighteen years as a farmer's 
boy. So, in a measure, I have a right to be here, but my long absence 
from work of that kind probably does not qualify me to speak on the 
subject. 

It is an old, old saying that the bone and sinew of the Nation are 
the men who come from the farms. I am quite sure that if we were to 
take a census of our various cities, we would find them filled with men 

(9) 



10 

and women who ai'e the products of farms, and that the great men of 
today, the great men in the financial world, great men in the business 
world and commercial world, are the very men who started in their boy- 
hood days as farmers' boys. I think it is just and fitting that our great 
city should properly recognize the life of the American farmer in his 
relation to the necessities of city life. 

The time is rapidly approaching when the people who live in cities 
will appreciate more and more the necessity for coming into closer touch 
with those who produce the kind of things that make possible our living 
in great cities. To the east of us we have a state which, if properly 
developed, would be one of the garden spots of the world. New Jersey 
probably stands in the forefront as one of the great trucking communities. 
I am in hopes that the day is not far off when the State of New Jersey 
can so rise to the situation that it will so develop the lands which are now 
lying idle, to enable the men who own the land there, to furnish to the 
centers of population all the things that you and I like to eat. 

In Philadelphia we have in the past two years, endeavored to bring 
the farmer, the man who produces products of that kind, in closer touch 
with the city. We have made a careful study of the markets, whereby 
the farmers can market direct to the consumer the products of their labor. 
That the plans are not yet consummated is not due to any fault of ours, 
but I am quite sure the day is not far off when we will enable the Phila- 
delphia citizen to purchase his supplies directly from the man who pro- 
duces them. Of course, we realize in modern commercial life that everyone 
who handles these products must of necessity reap some benefit from it; 
otherwise, he could not remain in business. But we are all selfish enough in 
our every-day life to try and secure those things we need at the minimum cost. 

It has been argued that one way to secure that is to put the farmer 
and consumer in our cities in closer touch. 

That, ladies and gentlemen, is the extent of my knowledge regarding 
farming. I only want to conclude my remarks by saying to you again, 
Philadelphia welcomes you most heartily. It is always customary, I 
believe, to extend the keys of the city to you. I want to say to you that 
we have no keys; they were thrown away long ago, and we only have the 
old-fashioned latch-strmg, which always hangs out. If there is anything 
which the city administration can do while you are here to make your stay 
pleasant and profitable, I want you to feel sure that we are ready to serve 
you, and all that is necessary to be done is for you to say the word. 

I thank you for the opportunity of appearing here. [Applause.] 

Mr. Calwell: Right at the beginning, I would like to say that 
I do not know anything about agriculture, but I am very glad indeed that 
the City of Philadelphia is beginning to take an interest in this great 
subject. I thank Director Porter for his kindness in giving us the freedom 
of the city, and offering to help this movement in every possible way. 



11 

It is going to be a big movement, this movement for the improvement 
of agriculture. The unfortunate part of it is that the farmer in a great 
many instances, does not feel that he needs help and psrhaps does not want 
help, but we in the city know that we are paying higher prices for food. 
We know that riding out in the country, we can see the farm products 
wasting on the ground, and we have come to the conclusion that the 
way we can help this movement, for cheaper living, is by studying the 
question of farm production and transportation and selling. This is not 
a question of philanthropy at all; it is a question of business. That is 
the reason that the Corn Exchange Bank is in this movement, and also 
the reason that the trade bodies have become interested here with us. 
On the front page of the programme you will see the names of the different 
trade organizations that are associated with us in helping to solve these 
problems. In addition to the Board of Trade, Bourse, Philadelphia Pro- 
duce Exchange and Commercial Exchange, Chamber of Commerce, 
Merchants' and Manufacturers' Association, Hardware Merchants' and 
Manufacturers' Association, the Pennsylvania Railroad, the City Club 
and Ohio Society of Philadelphia, we have the University of Pennsylvania, 
State College, the Pennsylvania Rural Progress Association and the 
Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, all interested in this 
movement. 

There are plenty of means for developing farm lands and of instructing 
the farmer how to increase his production. But there is more than that 
to this subject; there is the question of transportation, the question of 
marketing and the question of meeting the needs of the consumer. Penn- 
sylvania has the largest rural population of any state. We have right here 
in this wonderful agricultural section, surrounded by the best agricultural 
country anywhere in the United States — Chester County, Lancaster 
County and all through the eastern part of Pennsylvania. Take New 
Jersey: No better section anywhere; also Delaware and Maryland. 
You cannot find any better agricultural land than we have here. Yet it 
is selling in some sections for practically nothing. We have a wonderful 
market here. Six or seven millions of people are right within two or three 
hundred miles of our homes. Why should we not raise enough agricultural 
products and food supplies for ourselves? We do not do it. You go down 
along Dock Street and Front Street, and you will find that we are getting 
turkeys from Texas, chickens and other, poultry from Illinois, Indiana 
and even further west. We are getting butter from Minnesota. You 
try to find where the Pennsylvania products are, and they tell you that 
they cannot give you any percentage ; it is so small that it is hardly worth 
noticing. The only way they can use Pennsylvania poultry is by having 
it shipped in alive and killing it on Front Street; otherwise, it does not 
come in in good condition. 

When the housewife goes to the store and pays a dollar for a dozen 
eggs and pound of butter, it is time that the farmers around Philadelphia 



12 

should get some of the benefits of these high prices. I believe it is possible 
to develop in Philadelphia a bureau of information, where the farmer can 
come and get information about markets, and about fertilizers and seeds; 
also a bureau where good immigrants could find out where they could locate 
on good farms. They are running Immigrant Departments in the states 
out West. Why should we not get some of these good men, men who have 
gone out to Minnesota and developed farms? Why could not the same 
thing be pursued up in Bucks County and different locations which have 
just as good soil? I believe there is great opportunity for development 
in the southern part of New Jersey, the eastern part of Pennsylvania, 
Delaware and Maryland. 

We are going to take up the question of cold storage and transporta- 
tion. Judging from the bill passed at the last legislature, we need to 
take that up and study it a little, because that bill is the worst bill in 
the United States, and is going to do a great deal of harm right here in 
this city. You are going to find that butter and eggs are going to be 
very much higher unless we can get people outside of the state to ship 
in cold storage goods beyond the time set by the legislature. Why should 
such a law pass? We ought to think about these laws before they are 
passed. That is one of the questions that we are going to take up 
tomorrow afternoon. We will also have meetings here on boys' and 
girls' corn clubs, and on Saturday the bankers' meeting. So, we will 
have plenty of discussion, and there is no need in my spending any more 
time talking on those subjects today. 

W^e have present this morning Senator Gore, from Oklahoma. He 
has come from a great distance and is a very busy man. I know he has 
a lot of figures which he accumulated in Washington. We appreciate 
Senator Gore's coming here. He is interested in agriculture, and as 
chairman of the Agricultural Committee of the Senate, I am sure he 
can give us a message that will help us along in this great movement. 
I take pleasure in introducing Senator Thomas P. Gore. 



THE INTER-RELATION OF CITY AND COUNTRY. 



Hon. Thomas p. Gore, 
U. S. Senator from Oklahoma; Chairman, Senate Committee on Agriculture. 



Ladies and Gentlemen: I am obliged to your presiding officer for his 
very courteous presentation. I must plead guilty to the suggestion that 
I have been somewhat busy during the extra session and during the recent 
weeks. Indeed, I might say that my desire to be present and to attest 
my interest in your organization is proven by the fact that I have torn 
myself away from an extra session of the Senate. At least, we like to 
imagine that we are pretty busy down in Washington, and especially do 
we like to have other people imagine that we are pretty busy in Wash- 
ington. Yet I believe that nothing which Congress ever does seems to 
give such universal satisfaction as its adjournment. The people generally 
seem to look upon the adjournment of Congress a good deal like an old 
darkey I used to know in Mississippi. If any of you people come from 
that region you know that there is nothing that the southern darkey 
enjoys better than a funeral. On one occasion an old Uncle was return- 
ing from one of those outings, when he happened to pass one of the white 
laborers by the way. The white man says, "Hello, Uncle, Brown is 
dead?" He says, "Yes." He said, "What seemed to be the complaint?" 
"Well, sir," he replied, "I ain't heard no complaint yet; it seems to give 
pretty general satisfaction." [Laughter.] That is the way the country 
generally seems to look upon the adjournment of Congress, 

Now, my friends, I appreciate the opportunity to be present. I 
have come to attest my interest in the purposes and in the objects of this 
organization. As chairman of the Committee on Agriculture of the 
Senate, I wish to set the seal of my approval, for whatever that may 
signify, upon this organization, and upon all other organizations which 
seek to promote the progress and prosperity of agriculture in this country, 
and which seek to bring about a better understanding and a better relation- 
ship between the residents of the city and the residents of the country. 

There are many organizations, and a growing interest in this subject, 
as proven by the multiplication of societies dedicated to the betterment 
of rural life. I hope to see a consolidation of many of those societies and 
many of those organizations, and I hope to see the co-ordination and co- 
operation of them all. In division there is waste; in union there is effi- 
ciency, and while we counsel the elimination of waste and the stimulation 
of efficiency as one of the great means for the betterment of agriculture, 

(13) 



14 

we are still guilty, to a great or less extent, of waste and inefficiency on 
the part of those who seek the elimination of those very evils. 

I come to assure you of my disposition and, I believe, the disposition 
of Congress and the administration, to promote in every possible way the 
improvement of rural life and aid in the solution of the problems of rural 
life, which are but the problems of our national life. We have not 
devoted too much time, we have not devoted too much thought to the 
problems of the city; we have not devoted too much attention and have 
not rendered too much assistance to the enterprises and industries of the 
city, but we have devoted too little time and too little thought to the 
problems of the country, to the problems of the farm, to the larger prob- 
lems of our national life. No one can choose but wish the utmost 
progress and prosperity to the enterprises of mining and manufacturing, 
to the means and facilities of exchange and distribution, but to the 
primary industry of production we have not in the past devoted sufficient 
thought, sufficient attention and sufficient enUghtened study. There is 
coming a new time when we shall no longer be guilty of this dereliction of 
our duty. Tried by every standpoint, agriculture is of the very first 
import. I do not suggest this by way of instituting any invidious com- 
parison. Manufacturing, mining and commerce are of supreme impor- 
tance to national prosperity, and to individual happiness. I merely 
suggest that of primary and preliminary importance stands agriculture 
in the scale of our national economy. Tried by the standard of value 
merely as an investment, agriculture stands at the head of the list. 

In this country we have thirty-four billions of dollars invested in 
agricultural production. In improved and unimproved farm lands there 
are 788 millions of acres. So, the annual output of the American farm is 
more than nine billions of dollars. Tried by the standard of numbers 
merely, viewed from the standpoint of population, agriculture is of pre- 
eminent importance. More people are engaged in agriculture than in 
any other single industry or pursuit in the United States. One-third of 
all the people engaged in gainful occupation are devoting their time, their 
talents and their energy to agriculture. Tried by the standard of 
permanence agriculture is of foremost importance. It is the oldest settled 
industry amongst the sons of men. Hunting and fishing and herding 
have had their time of ascendency, but that time has past. Agriculture 
will not pass; it must abide with us so long as civilization obtains 
amongst us. It is the only means by which a large population can be 
sustained upon limited territory. Judged by its origin and vital neces- 
sity, it is, of course, the foremost occupation. It is the very source of 
our existence. It is the foundation from which flows the means of 
subsistence. It is needless for me, and I do not intend to enlarge upon 
the necessity or indispensability of agriculture. This is known to you all. 
There are problems connected with this which I wish to state, which I 
do not intend to solve, and which I could not solve at this time. 



15 

We hear much complaint about the drift of population from rural 
districts to our cities. Under the first census only three per cent of our 
population were classified as urban. Under the last census forty-six per 
cent of the population resided in cities and towns as classified under the 
census regulations. There are reasons why this tendency persists, and 
with those reasons we must deal, if we would counteract that tendency. 
Some of the reasons cannot be counteracted, some of the reasons ought 
not to be counteracted. There are others, however, which are temporary, 
which are artificial, and which ought not to obtain, and which ought to 
be arrested, or which ought to be counteracted. 

There are many means which we can employ to encourage the 
residents of the rural districts to remain and not to join in this procession 
or in this mad rush from the farm to the factory, from the country to the 
city. 

Now, here is another fundamental problem which I will raise at 
this point, not with the view of submitting an ultimate solution. The 
population must grow if the nation is to increase in strength and greatness 
and, I may add, in glory. We must not aspire to be a stationary people, 
but a growing and multiplying people. In our problem the factor of 
population is an increasing factor. The pressure of population upon the 
means of subsistence must increase, and this raises what has been known 
as the Malthusian theory. This pressure of population upon the means 
of subsistence will increase until hunger and famine are threatened, if not 
realized. In this country today we have only about thirty people to 
the square mile. In Belgium there are more than five hundred people to 
the square mile. In taking invoice in analyzing this problem, we must 
deal with the factor of population as a constantly increasing factor, for 
none of us would consent to that factor becoming fixed or becoming 
stationary. 

Now, the area of land is a fixed factor. It does not increase; it 
cannot be made to increase. There are variable factors, however, which 
are subject, in a large measure, to our control, and which must be con- 
trolled if we are to meet the requirements of an increasing population. 

Fertility is not a fixed factor, but it is really subject to our manage- 
ment and subject to increase. Tillage, improved tillage, is not a fixed 
factor; it is a variable factor. It is one that can be influenced by the will 
and by the activities of man. 

Upon these factors, then, we must concentrate our intelhgence and 
our energy. There we must find the solution of our problems. There 
we must relieve the pressure of population upon the fixed land area and 
upon the means of subsistence. It was declared about two hundred years 
ago that tillage was fertilization. 

Now, our mines and our forests ought to be conserved. The con- 
servation of our forests is one of the great national problems, which is 
entitled to that deep solicitude and attention which it has received during 



16 

recent years. Unfortunate it is that this attention was not sooner directed 
to the conservation of our vast forest resources. In many locahties they 
have been exhausted and in many localities they have been impaired. 
Perhaps in every locality until in recent years those resources have been 
neglected. National interest and patriotism have devoted themselves 
to the task of arresting this waste, this dissipation of a resource which 
can be rebuilded only through a long series of years, rising almost to the 
century mark. Our mines have been wantonly worked and wasted in 
the past. Unlike the forests, they cannot be recuperated, even with the 
lapse of centuries. Once exhausted, a mine is always exhausted. It 
becomes a reminiscence. It becomes one of those cemeteries where the 
dead past continues to bury its dead. We can only reduce, minimize 
or eliminate waste in the operation of mining and in the use of the out- 
put of the mine. We cannot restore to hfe the exhausted mine or the 
exhausted ore. Waste is the evil to which the soil is equally liable. There 
are those who mine the soil instead of tilling the soil. This is our greatest 
resource, resource upon which collective society depends for its existence 
and upon which every individual depends for his maintenance and for 
his existence. The growing or grown-up individual must rely upon the 
soil for his subsistence as relies the babe upon its mother's breast. The 
beggar in his rags and the prince in his purple depend alike upon the 
fruits of the soil for existence and for life itself. 

I cannot say more — I need not say more to accentuate the indis- 
pensable necessity of this resource and of its conservation. The exhaustion 
of the fertility of the soil is a national calamity. This exhaustion has run 
rampant in the past in this section and in many sections of the union. 
The abandoned field is seen as an enduring monument to the waste which 
has run riot in other days. The fertility of the soil is our greatest patri- 
mony. It is the national heritage. True, we have ownership of land in 
severalty in this country, yet every individual and society collectively 
has a direct interest in the conservation and in the maintenance of the 
fertility of the soil. 

Improved tillage upon fertilization is the other means and resource 
upon which we must rely, in order that a fixed land area may meet the 
requirements of the increasing population, in order that the Malthusian 
theory may never come to our door as the wolf of want. 

The possibilities of fertilization and of tillage hardly have limits. 
Their capacity is almost unlimited. I remember in the vicinity of Paris 
2 7-10 acres which produced 250 tons of vegetable product. In Egypt 
900 people are maintained on a single square mile under irrigation. The 
number rises to 1,200 in portions of India, and in the Empire of Japan 
there are 45,000,000 souls and the tillable land amounts to less than 20,000 
square miles, less than the area of New Jersey and Maryland combined. 

By proper fertilization and by proper tillage this country will be 
able to meet and maintain all the requirements of an increasing popula- 



17 

tion practically without limit. It cannot be done, however, if we neglect 
these resources. This, then, is the paramount problem and the supreme 
duty alike of nation and of state. I rejoice to see your society, your 
organization and other organizations devoting themselves to the remaining 
phase of this problem. Science has discovered all the principles of fertiliza- 
tion and tillage. The truths of agriculture are known to the scientists 
and they must be made known to the farmer. Our light is of little aid 
if it remains under a bushel. The man who tills the soil, the man who 
farms the farm, must be made conversant with these principles, not only 
that they must be induced to apply these principles to practical farming, 
they must not only be taught — they have been taught — that brains mix 
with the soil better than bone dust; but that intelligence is as essential 
to successful farming as is the sunshine. But it is our concern, it is the 
concern of the country, it is the concern of the city, to see that these 
principles are mingled with the soil itself. The duty devolves upon 
the state, upon the Federal Government to disseminate the truths and 
principles of scientific agriculture, to induce their practical application. 

It is fortunate that societies of this kind are formed to reinforce the 
activities of the state and of the general government. A bill is now pend- 
ing* before the Committee on Agriculture which I hope to see reported 
on Tuesday next, providing for farm extension and for farm demonstra- 
tion work in every state in the union. This work is to be carried on in 
conjunction with our agricultural colleges, the purpose being to carry 
these principles to the individual farmer and to stimulate their adoption 
and their use by the individual farmer. 

Societies of this kind can do a great deal to overcome prejudice where 
prejudice exists and to overcome suspicion where suspicion exists. Your 
organization ought to bring about a closer understanding and co-operation 
between the cities and the country with a common purpose in view. 
You should co-operate with the farmers, not as patron mth dependent, 
not as master with student, but as co mm on citizens and co-laborers, ani- 
mated by a common purpose addressed to a common object, inspiring a 
feeling of fraternity, of fellowship, of mutual trust and co-operation, that 
neither one nor the other is attempting to become or is attempting to prey 
upon his fellow, but is attempting to serve his fellow. The greatest obli- 
gation which any man owes to his fellow, or unto society itself, is the 
obligation of service. 

Now, there are several ways in which I hope to see the Committee 
on Agriculture of the Senate become more serviceable in the future than 
in the past to the farm and farmer of the United States. We ought to 
have in this country a system of farm credits suited to the conditions of 
our country and to the needs of our farms. Farm credit systems have 
grown up in the several countries of the old world, in Germany, in France, 
in Italy; and such systems are now being installed in England, Scot- 

* This bill (the Lever Bill) has since been passed and signed by the President. 



18 

land and also in Ireland, systems which enable the farmer to employ his 
credit when he needs his credit. The farmer's credit is part of his pos- 
session; it is an asset, and it ought to be made available unto him when- 
ever he requires it and whenever he can use it to his individual advantage 
or to the advantage of his community. 

These systems have grown up in the old world, systems adapted 
to local conditions and to the local needs of the people. It was my 
pleasure to offer and secure the adoption of an amendment to the last 
agricultural bill, raising a commission to visit Europe to study those 
systems and report upon them. This commission has visited Europe. 
It was in session yesterday and will submit its report at an early date.* 
These systems of rural credit will not interfere with and they will not 
overturn our established commercial institutions and not interfere with 
the existing banking system. They are to supply a need which our 
present banking system is not suited to supply, a need which they do 
not at present meet, but a need which ought to be met either by the 
establishment of new institutions suited to the purposes or by the readap- 
tation of the existing institutions, not only personal credit systems, but 
land credit systems. I submit one solution. In Europe they borrow money 
upon land for long time periods at a low rate of interest. A loan of a 
thousand dollars, for instance, will be repaid during a period of fifty-four 
years by annual payments of $48.50. This pays the principal and liqui- 
dates both principal and interest and pays the operating expenses of the 
institution. An annual payment of $48.50 is easily met. A system of 
this sort in this country would provide securities for the investment of 
hoarded money, would enable the farmers to enlarge their farms and 
improve their farms, and would enable the younger men to purchase 
farms, as well as to improve them. The long time and the low rate 
moderates the burden, so that his energies can be devoted to improve- 
ment, so his credit is rendered available and is made a real asset, service- 
able alike to himself and to the community. 

I think that Congress will at an early date pass a measure looking 
to the establishment of systems of farm credits of this character. This 
should be encouraged alike by those engaged in commercial banking 
and by the community at large. 

Another respect in which the Committee on Agriculture can be of 
service to the farmer is in the establishment or in encouraging the estab- 
lishment of improved market facilities throughout this country, not only 
in our larger cities, but in every section of the country. Much progress 
has been made in this direction in some European cities and in some of 
our own states, California and Florida, for instance. 

It is admitted by the Department of Agriculture that more than 
$25,000,000 is wasted every year in marketing the cotton crop of the 

*The Commission has published the first instalknent of its report— Agricultiiral 
Co-operation and Rural Credit in Europe. Senate Doc. No. 204. 



19 

South. While this is of no direct concern to you, yet you must but feel 
a sympathetic interest in this important subject. Seventy-five million 
dollars are wasted to the farmers of the South through the want of improved 
market advantages. I might say here that we ought to raise the standard 
of warfare against waste— waste in private affairs as well as waste in public 
affairs. This standard should not be lowered until this warfare concludes 
in complete conquest, in complete triumph. Waste is uncivilized. It 
must be eliminated before we attain the highest standard of civilization. 

Now, the farm products of the United States aggregate more than 
nine bilhons annually. Perhaps a third of this is retained upon the farm 
for domestic consumption, and something more than six billions are mar- 
keted annually by the farmer. The farm products bring the producer 
about six billion dollars annually, but when these products are retailed 
to the consumer, they bring thirteen billions of dollars. There is a spread 
of seven billion between the price received by the producer and the price 
paid by the consumer. 

Now, it is impossible to believe that there is not much of waste, much 
of needless profits in this vast amount of seven billion dollars. This 
waste is due largely to the want of marketing advantages, marketing facili- 
ties, to the want of centralized intelhgence, to the want in one locality 
of the supplies available in other localities. 

The problem of the high cost of living must receive at least a part 
of its solution in this quarter. The producer could easily receive two 
billions more, and the consumer could easily pay two billions less and both 
would be vastly benefited, and yet there would be a spread of three or four 
billions to pay for the ultimate requirements of exchange and distribution. 
Of course, these estimates of figures are generalities, but they point the 
problem, the place where the solution must in part be applied. 

I am pleased to report to you that when the agricultural appropriation 
bill was passed in March last the Senate attached an amendment, creating 
a market bureau in the Agricultural Department. In conference we were 
obliged to surrender that section, but we retained an appropriation of 
$50,000 to enable the department to make a study of marketing conditions 
and facilities in Europe and in different sections of this country. Dr. 
Carver, formerly of Harvard University, and perhaps the highest authority 
upon agricultural economics, in this country, has been placed in charge 
of this work. He recently visited Europe, and the country will at an 
early date begin to realize the fruits of his researches and investigation.* 

The appropriation bill, passed during the present session, will increase 
the amount from 150,000 to $150,000 and possibly $200,000. There is 
no economy in closing our eyes against the light; ignorance has no advan- 
tages, but enlightenment has infinite advantages. We must lay our hands 
to the solution of this problem, and whatever waste exists, if any, in our 
present marketing conditions, must be eliminated. The advantages 

*The Bureau of Markets has since been organized and is in active operation. 
Dr. Brand is chief of the Bureau. 



20 

which can come from the most improved methods must be secured alike 
to our farmers, to the producers of the country and to the consumers 
of the country. Your organization can assist in the solution of this prob- 
lem, as in the solution of other problems, but when our farms have been 
fertilized, when they have been wisely tilled, when the farmer has been 
provided with credit upon reasonable terms, and, then, there is still one 
other service which the general government, in conjunction with the state 
government, can render to the farmer of this country. I allude now to 
the construction and maintenance of a system of improved highways. 
It is difficult for us to excuse ourselves — in fact, we cannot excuse ourselves 
for neglecting this important subject for most a century. We are two 
thousand years behind the Roman Republic, the Roman Empire. 

With respect to public highways, we have no system, no national 
system, and we have no system in a majority of the states. Only twenty- 
two states have made even an effort in the direction of the development 
of the highways, and in the direction of devoting scientific thought to the 
construction and maintenance of a system of public roads. 

Congress expends from $20,000,000 to $50,000,000 a year on rivers, 
few of which are navigated. We spend from .$15,000,000 to $25,000,000 
for public buildings, few of which are indispensable to the efficiency of the 
public service. With respect to highways we have heretofore made no 
expenditures, excepting a mere trifle, to stimulate interest. 

Now, the purpose of this expenditure is legitimate, the stimulation 
of interest is the principal object which the general government ought 
to have in view. The average haul amongst the farmers is nine miles. 
These roads ought to be constructed, in the main, by the people of the 
locality which they penetrate. The taxation ought to be a local taxation, 
so that the people can know whence it comes and whither it goes. Most 
of the people can have little direct concern in rural routes from the eastern 
to the western sea. These are not matters of indifference. I hope to see 
the Lincoln Highway constructed from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Indeed, 
I have become a subscriber to the fund. I hope to see the road constructed 
from Wimiipeg to the Gulf, because that will stimulate interest and inspire 
imitation. 

My friends, it is estimated by experts that every time the sun sets, 
the farmers of the United States have lost a million dollars between the 
rising and setting of the sun, on account of our neglected public highways, 
the waste of time, waste of energy and wear and tear on team and 
vehicle — one million dollars a day, aggregating during the year more 
than three hundred millions. It is hard to estimate the necessaries and 
comforts which this three hundred million dollars would supply if this 
waste were eliminated and if this amount were applied to the purchase of 
comforts and of necessaries. 

I say stimulation of interest is the principal purpose which ought to 
animate the general government. Sufficient money is expended now for 



21 

the construction and maintenance of a magnificent system of highways. 
Approximately two hundred milHon dollars a year are paid by the people 
of this country in township, county and state for road purposes, and yet 
we get no roads, excepting in a few states hke New York, Pennsylvania, 
New Jersey and a few others in New England and one or two in the West, 
Wisconsin and other localities. In my own state the people contribute 
three million dollars a year for the construction of roads, and yet we get 
no roads except what nature has provided. There she has been generous. 
We have the best natural system of roads in the world. I have to say 
that, because I am a candidate for re-election and I have got to say some- 
thing about the roads. 

The trouble is we have a small unit and a small road district. There 
is no centralized authority, no concentrated intelligence, no general 
direction. It comes from the ground up. There is no one anywhere 
charged with power or duty of formulating a general system of public 
highways. Only yesterday I introduced a bill in the Senate designed to 
secure co-operation between the Federal Government and the State 
Governments, and to give general direction and supervision, so as to 
insure a system of national highways. The state is required to put up a 
dollar for every dollar appropriated by the general government. That 
is an effectual safeguard against what is known as the pork barrel. For 
my own. part I am opposed to every form of pork barrel, whether it be 
known as appropriation for rivers and harbors or not. I approve of 
generous appropriations for the improvement of rivers and harbors, which 
are actually used in commerce, trade and navigation, but not the pork 
barrel. I have no penchant for the pork barrel. I am not going to waste 
the people's good money in the name of good roads. Such a measure as 
I have suggested will be a blessing to the people of the United States 
and will redeem our reputation from a charge which can be justly brought 
against us — one not only of indifference, but of neglect, touching a subject 
of the highest concern both locally and nationally. 

There are other ways and means in which the Committee on 
Agriculture in Congress can be serviceable to the farm and farmer. I 
shall not levy a higher tax upon your patience by proceeding further with 
the discussion. I may repeat that I have appreciated the compliment 
imphed in the invitation to be present today. I embrace the oppor- 
tunity with pleasure, I am glad and happy to have met you, happy to 
have been able to assure you of my deep interest and my abiding sym- 
pathy in the purposes and in the object of your organization, happy to 
be able to assure you of my interest and intention to co-operate with your 
organization and with all other organizations which you can create to pro- 
mote the advancement and prosperity of the farmer and the farm, which 
cannot but have a reciprocal advantage on the prosperity of our cities. 

We expend every year on our army and navy the sum of $250,000,000. 
We spend upon agriculture about $17,000,000. We expend upon the 



22 

army and navy enough every year to construct homes sufficient to house 
a milhon people. We expend upon the bloody arts of war $250,000,000. 
We expend upon agriculture, the fruitful arts of peace only $17,000,000 a 
year. Of course we must deal with conditions as they are. I wish it 
were possible for us to arrange with all the powers of the earth to let 
the Republic stand for one brief year undisturbed and undestroyed, so 
that during that brief year we could expend $250,000,000 upon agriculture, 
upon internal improvements upon rivers and harbors, upon public high- 
ways — $250,000,000 to make life worth the living, and expend only 
$17,000,000 preparing for the butchery of our brethren. 

Of course, I know, and you know, that the Golden Age has not come 
and, perchance, is not coming, when the war trumpets shall throb no 
longer, and the battle flag be furled; but let us hope the tendency is 
toward the time when the nations of the earth will cease to determine 
which is right and which is wrong by the amount of bloodshed and 
slaughter one is able to inflict upon the other. Let us hope the tendency 
is towards the time when we will regard as the greatest hero the man who 
makes two ears of corn grow where one had grown before, or, what is 
better still, makes one ear of corn grow where none had grown before. 
I hope the tendency is toward the time when we will look upon that man 
as a greater hero than he who takes a city, when we will regard the man 
with the hoe a more glorious citizen, and a more useful citizen, than the 
conqueror who wades through slaughter to the throne. 

Me. Calwell: We all appreciate that address of Senator Gore's. 
It has been practical. We are very glad to be in closer touch with the 
service the Government is rendering and is going to render the country 
in that farm extension work it is going to make in every state. That 
sounds like a very good idea to me. I would like to ask if Senator Gore 
would let us have some information about that bill, the number of the 
bill or what the bill is called, so that this organization and the bankers of 
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland will be able to get 
together and request their senators and representatives to take an espe- 
cially active interest in that work. The Senator also mentioned the 
waste in cotton of $25,000,000 and said perhaps we had a sympathetic 
interest in that statement. We have a very active interest in that. 
Philadelphia is the cotton yarn center of the United States. We have 
a ticker in the bank, and more people come to see the quotations of cotton 
than come in to see the quotations of the stock exchange. Every manu- 
facturer in Kensington and Manayunk is complaining today of the rise 
of the cost of cotton yarn. So we are just as interested in saving 
that $25,000,000 as Oklahoma or any other state in the West or the 
South. 

Dr. Carver was mentioned in connection with the Market Bureau. 
We are going to have Dr. Carver speak to-morrow morning, and I think 



23 

it will be well to amplify that fact, so that you can come and hear what 
he has to say regarding this market bureau. 

Time passes, and I cannot say anything more except to introduce 
here the president of the Pennsylvania Rural Progress Association. Mrs. 
Smith has been quite active in this movement and has had much to do 
in shaping the programme and the work of the conference. She knows, 
as few others, the actual conditions in the rural districts of Pennsylvania. 
I take great pleasure in introducing Mrs. Smith. 



RURAL CONDITIONS. 



By Edith Ellicott Smith, 
President, Pennsylvania Rural Progress Association, Pennsdale, Pa. 



The conference which is now beginning in this city is only another 
indication of the awakening of the business men of the United States to 
the need of concerted action on their part for the improvement of country 
life and agriculture, because of the close interdependence of city and 
country. To those who are in close touch with the rural districts the 
constantly growing unrest among the agricultural classes has been fully 
apparent. By city men, except as they are farm owners, this has only 
been faintly realized. The unrest which has been growing in the country 
has been brought about by many causes, both economic and social. A 
belief on the part of 3^oung people and women on the farms that country 
life is dull drudgery and that a brighter happier life lies in the city seems 
to prevail. 

Farm labor has become more and more discontented. We have a 
man farming for us who has four sons; two of them as soon as they reached 
the age of eighteen left for the city to become mechanics; the other two 
have not a good word to say for farm life and are panting to get away. 
They will go as soon as they are eighteen. Nearly every day some farm 
hand appears at the office with complaints about his work, his wages, 
his hours. Adjustments in and out of reason are made, days off are 
given, a horse for going visiting, every concession to induce them to 
remain. Extra labor for pressing seasonal occupations, such as harvest- 
ing, filling silos, etc., is almost impossible to find. To solve this problem 
every rural community will have to co-operate m establishing some winter 
mdustry to hold the labor supply. The interchange of labor between 
farms has been tried and found to be wholly unsatisfactory, because a 
farmer must always return the favor at the time convenient for his neigh- 
bor and most inconvenient for himself. 

The Faemer as a Seller. 

The need for a closer relationship between the food producer and the 
food consumer and the elimination of the class which preys on both, is 
the talk of the hour, and will only cease when full knowledge regarding 
the market situation is in the hands of both producer and consumer. At 
present the farmer knows not to whom his product goes any more than 
the city man knows from whom his food comes. Neither does the farmer 
in a vast majority of cases know how to prepare his product for market. 

(24) 



25 

If only the Farmers' Institute force, which sends five speakers to nearly 
every village and town in each state to talk on technical agriculture, 
would advertise one demonstration meeting for each of these villages 
showing how to prepare chickens for market, how to pack apples, etc., 
farmers would attend these meetings and the state's funds would not be 
wasted in holding large numbers of meetings which are but poorly 
attended. It is no longer a problem of the first importance how to make 
two blades of grass grow where one grows now; the problem is where and 
how to market what the farmer has already grown. 

If a prosperous and contented class is desirable on our farms and if 
a reasonable priced food supply is essential to city dwellers, some closer 
touch and clearer knowledge must be brought about. At present there 
is a strong belief on the part of the consumer and producer that a sinister 
and malign influence is at work in hidden ways to rob both parties. 
Public knowledge of the subject will undoubtedly show that the devil is 
not as black as he is painted. Ignorance raises barriers which knowledge 
might level. The expense of transportation and handling the farmer's 
product is large. But at present it is made out to be so large that neither 
the man who grew it nor the man who eats it is considered. After an 
investigation of five hundred dairy farms in western New York, Dr. John 
R. Williams, of Rochester, discovered that the average investment 
required for operating a dairy farm in western New York producing 
160 quarts of milk daily was $9,000. One dealer in the city can easily 
deliver the milk of three such farms. His total investment rarely exceeds 
$2,500. Thus three farmers in the country with an average investment 
of $27,000 receive no more for their product than one distributor in the 
city with not more than one-tenth the investment, and the risks and 
labor of the farmer are really much greater. 

The Farmer as a Buyer. 
In the country districts where the farmer is a wholesale buyer he is 
treated as if he were a retail buyer. He buys thousands of pounds of 
wire fencing, horse shoes, hardware of all sorts, feeds and fertilizers by 
the himdred tons and agricultural implements of expensive sorts. But 
his local dealers treat him as if he were the housewife who is buying a 
pound of sugar or a quarter pound of tea. He gets very little more 
consideration for a big order than for a small one. As a result, when he 
has cash he is buying of the mail-order houses rather than deal with his 
local merchant, and his local merchant when he has no cash and wants 
credit sells him a poor article at a high price. A state of anger and resent- 
ment exists between himself and the local merchants. This summer we 
had occasion to buy fifty window-sash for a dairy bam. We got an esti- 
mate from three local planing mills for this work. Their price was $1.75 
per window. We asked them if they could not consider some reduction 
on account of the size of the order. They said it was impossible. We 



26 

ordered the windows from Sears, Roebuck & Co., Chicago, and got them 
for $1.25 a window, including freight. The local planing mills have one 
price for local orders and another price for orders from nearby cities where 
they have more competition. The farmer can buy southern pine lumber 
at $8 to $15 a thousand and it costs him less even paying freight than to 
buy lumber from the local dealers who would charge him $25 to $30 a 
thousand for the poorest. 

The question of feed in the farming districts is also serious. The 
following instance in Tioga County has come to my knowledge. At the 
present time the farmers are selling off their cows for almost anjrthing 
they can get, whole herds going for a song, because the dry weather last 
summer killed the pasture and hay, and the corn crop is almost a failure. 
The local mills are selling feed for not less than $30 a ton. Consequently 
the farmers must sell off their herds, as they cannot buy at this price. 
It will be at least five years before they can regain their present status. 
Even supposing this matter only concerned the farmers themselves, such 
a condition is tragic. What makes it right that the mills should charge 
$30 a ton for feed? I seh my wheat for 85 cents a bushel, and out of 
that wheat the miller gets flour, bran, middlings and shorts to double 
and treble his profits. Pennsylvania farmers are in many places so hard 
pressed for cash that they must sell all they can at the lowest price when 
the markets are glutted in the fall and buy back on credit at high prices 
in the spring. 

Protection Needed. 

The seed situation is worse in the rural districts than almost any 
other. Such a thing as good seed is unknown. If the farmer sends away 
to the big seed houses he is just as likely to get more weeds than good 
seed, or to get seeds ten years old, which may or may not germinate. 
Much has already been done in guaranteeing fertilizers, yet much remains 
to be done. Misleading labels are still seen on fertilizer bags. On account 
of scientific knowledge necessary for the proper using of fertilizers, the 
average farmer is at a disadvantage in any case. Analysis of feeds is of 
the highest advantage to the farmer, and the more upright a state govern- 
ment is in this matter the more it can serve the farmer and through him 
the state. There is great possibility of graft in the whole matter as it 
stands at present. 

These are only a feAv instances of the unprotected situation of the 
farmer, the situation which he cannot remedy and from which, if he is 
worth conserving and is a useful citizen of whom the country has need, 
he must be delivered. That he is a desirable citizen and belongs to a 
more essential class than any other has been realized by all the countries 
of Europe and by none more so than by Denmark. 

Here I wish to pause to recommend to the careful study of this 
municipality and of its large seed houses the work done in Denmark by 



27 

a seed house in putting on the market seed which had been tested and 
whose viabiUty and purity could be vouched for. The work of this firm 
obtained such significance that the government took over its plants and 
farmers are planting only first-class, weed-free, tested seed. Now, since 
the various farm crops and products are of far more value to the nation 
than all the organized dealers of all sorts, taken severally or taken together, 
it stands to reason that it is the business of this nation to see that the 
farmer gets fair play and a square deal. It should be impossible for any 
foul seed or seed which is diseased or bad to be put on sale in even the 
smallest country store. Fines can be imposed and seeds tested by govern- 
ment inspection which will soon make it impossible to furnish low grade 
seed at high prices, as is now too frequently the case. By testing cabbage 
seeds State College, Pennsylvania, has found that varieties sold as early 
are frequently late, that vast quantities of early cabbage do not mature 
until late, which will often rob a market gardener of his whole early cab- 
bage crop. This is equally true of all other truck and farm seeds. 

After all, we are perhaps asking why should the farmer be protected 
more than any other class? The answer is very simple. He operates on 
a small scale; his profits are small as compared with many other busi- 
nesses. He must have ready to his hand when the seasons come round 
a reliable source of supply for all his needs. He cannot rush about the 
country hunting up his seeds, fertilizers, feeds, etc. He must accept what 
he is sold by dealers. If he alone suffered when the crops failed there 
might be some who would decline to protect him, but since we are all 
dependent on him it is our duty to conserve the farmer. 

Farm Credit. 

Of the bitter need for a better system of credit for farmers I shall 
leave it for those more expert than I to speak. That this need exists I 
am well aware. That better facilities for it must be brought about I am 
very sure. In the meantime, I want to point out that the righting of 
these wrongs is up to the cities. The farmer can scratch along somehow, 
he can still feed himself and his family, but if the city food supply is 
scarce and dear, remember that at present there is no inducement for the 
farmer to increase it. With fair conditions and a comprehension on the 
part of the municipahties that they can better existing conditions, there 
is no reason why the eastern United States should not become as pros- 
perous an agricultural section as the West. For one thing is pre-eminently 
true, that we have but barely scratched the surface of our agricultural 
possibilities. 

Mr. Calwell: My attention has just been called to the fact that 
the Pennsylvania Railroad has on exhibition at Broad Street Station a 
train of agricultural and dairy cars. You are all invited to inspect them 
some time during the next two or three days. 



28 

We have heard some shght criticism of State College, that it was not 
getting into this work as broadly as it should. I am not a State College 
man, and we are some distance from State College, but I can appreciate 
the handicaps that State Cohege has had. State College has had prac- 
tically no consideration from the legislature of Pennsylvania up to this 
last session. I think that our state representatives and senators now are 
fully awake to the state needs of agricultural development. The appro- 
priation at the past session was very much increased, and I hope at the 
next session it will be five times as much. 

Dean Watts, of State College, Pennsylvania, is with us today and is 
going to talk on ''Market Conditions." The criticism of Mrs. Smith 
was not directed towards Dean Watts at all. He has labored under han- 
dicaps and has done a remarkable amount of good. I beheve the time 
is coming now when he is going to get a great deal more money and a great 
deal more help, not only from his own college, but from the representatives 
of Pennsylvania and from other associations down here in Philadelphia. 
I take great pleasure in introducing Dean Watts, of the State College. 



MARKET CONDITIONS. 



Dean R. L. Watts, 

State College, Pa. 



Ladies and Gentlemen: I can assui'e you it is a great pleasure to appear 
in this conference as the representative of your agricultural college. This 
institution does not belong to President Sparks, his faculty or the trustees, 
but it is your college. While we have almost 1,200 students studying 
agriculture, we feel that one of the most important Hues of work of the 
School of Agriculture of the Peimsylvania State College is to take the 
College to the farmer. We know that an exceedingly small percentage 
of your sons and daughters — ^the young people of this state — y^nW. ever 
find it possible to come to the College. There are 225,000 farmers in 
Pennsylvania and we have in the College over 1,000 of them, but this is a 
very small percentage of those who must have help. So that we reahze 
that our great problem is to take the College to the farmer and help him 
solve his problems right on his own ground. 

I have been requested to speak on market conditions and I wish to 
discuss this topic with special reference to Pennsylvania. The interests 
of the city and country are mutual. Whatever is beneficial to the farmer 
^dll usually help the city man. We hear a great deal in the country about 
the high cost of li^ang in the city. Occasionally, when we drift into the 
city restaurants, we wonder how in the world the city man can make 
both ends meet; and when you talk to the farmer, he will in all probability 
tell you that his profits are not any larger than they were a few years 
ago. We reahze that city consumers are paying more for food than they 
have paid for many years, but producers are not realizing very much larger 
profits. 

I want to congratulate the Com Exchange Bank, Rural Progress 
Association, The Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture and 
everybody who has had any part in this meeting, on the idea of having a 
get-together conference in Philadelphia. I am glad that the framers of the 
programme have barred out all questions relating to production. It is high 
time that the producers of this district and the consumers in our cities get 
together for the purpose of discussing market problems. 

There are certain factors which contribute largely to the high cost of 
food, and I shall view this question largely' from the standpoint of one who 
lives in the country and who has had experience in producing for city 
markets. In the first place, those of us who live in the countr^^ beheve 
that too many people in the city are making a li^dng off the farmer. We 

(29) 



30 

believe there are too many middlemen. We believe that fewer middlemen 
could handle our foodstuffs and make a good living, perhaps a better living 
than the farmers who produce them. 

A few years ago I spent some time in the Kalamazoo celery district. 
I found that a dozen plants of celery were delivered at the packing house in 
Kalamazoo for ten cents. I found that these packers were shipping to 
State College, and upon inquiry at State College I learned that the retail 
price was five to ten cents a plant. In other words, a single plant at 
State College was worth as much as a dozen plants at Kalamazoo. Many 
illustrations might be given to show that products often pass through the 
hands of three or four men before they reach the consumer. This condi- 
tion should be corrected. 

There are transportation difficulties and many of them are hard to 
solve. We must have better country roads everywhere in Pennsylvania 
before the farmer can haul his produce to market or to the shipping station 
in first-class condition. 

Thousands of bushels of apples went to waste under the trees in Center 
County last fall. I presume one of the main reasons for this loss is the fact 
that the farmers of Center County are not organized. The growers who had 
a large crop were not acquainted with Philadelphia dealers. Very few of 
the farmers had sufficient apples to make up carload lots and no one was 
sufficiently interested to collect the apples and make shipments in carload 
lots. In this particular instance, it is readily seen that a city organization, 
which would have furnished the necessary information to the growers 
relative to city buyers, and a rural co-operative association, might have 
made it possible to ship the apples at a profit. 

The students of the Department of Horticulture of the Pennsylvania 
State College have been making some experiments in shipping tomatoes 
by parcel post. The best cardboard packages available were secured to 
contain the tomatoes. They have been shipped to Philadelphia as well as 
to other points in various parts of the country. In very few instances have 
the tomatoes arrived in good condition. As a rule they have been more or 
less crushed in shipment and the juice has been oozing out of them when 
received. This single experiment proves that the present method of hand- 
ling perishable and easily injured products bj^ parcel post as now managed 
is unsatisfactory. It indicates that the postal authorities will find it neces- 
sary to provide hampers for the handling of farm produce before we can 
expect satisfactory results. 

There is a great diversity of opinion on the various questions relating 
to storage of farm products. All of us are ready to admit that there must 
be facilities for storage, both in the country and in the city. Ample storage 
facilities are essential to the equal distribution of farm products throughout 
the year. If we do not have liberal storage facilities, farm products will 
be clumped on the market in great quantities at certain seasons of the year, 
causing market slumps and depreciation in prices, which are usually 



31 

followed by abnormally high prices. The great need then, so far as 
storage is concerned, is larger and better regulated houses for both city and 
country storage. 

The question of supply and demand deserves special consideration 
at this time. We all know that the importation of certain important 
foodstuffs has increased greatly during the past few years and that our 
exportation of important food articles has decreased. This is a com- 
paratively new country and yet we are failing to feed our own population. 
At the present time both corn and beef are being imported from South 
America; while our own country and our own State of Pennsylvania are 
pre-eminently adapted to the production of corn and beef. We have 
hundreds of acres of land in Pennsylvania which are practically non- 
productive and which might provide excellent grazing for large numbers of 
cattle and sheep. The Pennsylvania State College is very much interested 
in the problem of increased beef production in this state. A large herd 
of registered beef cattle is maintained at the College with the idea of 
determining the cost of breeding and raising beef cattle in Pennsylvania. 
We believe that it is possible for this state to compete successfully with 
the West, provided the most approved and economical methods are 
employed. 

Both city and farm wastes are enormous. You will notice that I said 
city as well as farm wastes. We hear a great deal about country wastes. 
It seems that almost everyone you meet in the city has something to say 
about the wastes of the country. They declare that the owners of rural 
properties are not using their lands as they should; that they are not 
properly conserving soil fertility; that they are not utilizing their crops 
to the best advantage. Most of our farmers are willing to admit their 
wastefulness, but we should also take into account in connection with the 
high cost of living the enormous waste of the cities. How about the milk- 
men who chase down the city alleys every morning, dozens of them perhaps, 
when three or four wagons might deliver the milk in the same territory 
at a very much lower cost? There is also an enormous waste in the delivery 
of groceries in the city. How about the consumer who 'phones to his 
grocer and asks for a quarter of a peck of apples or potatoes to be delivered 
at his residence several miles away? Who pays for this heavy expense? 
You pay for it, but the farmer gets most of the blame for the high cost of 
living. 

My attention has been called to a vender's wagon which operates in 
West Philadelphia during the fall and winter season. The wagon is 
substantially built and tastefully painted, and the team, with brass- 
trimmed harness, is kept in a city stable. Every morning two men 
with the team and wagon drive to Dock Street and purchase a load of 
apples. They then drive to West Philadelphia and the entire day is spent 
in peddling the load of apples. It is seen at once that the apples must be 
sold at a very great advance of the price paid on Dock Street in order to 



32 

meet the wages of two men and to meet the expense of keeping the team 
and wagon in the city Hvery stable. The consumers who purchase the 
apples must pay, of course, the excessive cost of distribution, but the apple 
growers are in no sense to blame for the high cost of apples in West Phila- 
delphia. 

Frequently we hear of a consumers' league which is rendering most 
excellent service in reducing the cost of living. This often means the 
elimination of a certain number of middlemen. In-order to accomplish 
this it is necessary for residents to be provided with ample and satisfactory 
storage facilities. Every city residence should have sufficient space to 
store a barrel of potatoes, a barrel of apples, part of a crate of celery, a 
basket or two of tomatoes, a barrel of sweet potatoes and other products 
which are enjoyed by the family. It would then be possible to have ship- 
ments made direct from the farm, or perhaps wholesale houses could 
deliver to the residences without the products going through the hands 
of several middlemen. This is a thoroughly practical proposition and 
should receive attention by city consumers. There is no reason why every 
new house erected in the city should not contain approved storage for the 
foodstuffs that are used in every home. 

There is need of a greater number of rural co-operative associations. 
We can not expect to realize the best results from either the city or the 
country man's standpoint until the producers are better organized. Co- 
operation, however, is impossible in any community unless the people of 
the community want to co-operate. This is the great trouble in most of 
the rural sections of Pennsylvania. Our people have not learned the real 
value of co-operation. There is also need, of course, as previously indicated, 
of city organizations which may be linked with the country organizations. 
Our farmers want to Imow where to sell and the city consumers want to 
know where to buy. I am well acquainted with many reliable growers of 
apples in Pennsylvania who would like to do business direct with consumers 
in Philadelphia. When such growers inquire of my office at State College 
regarding consumers in Philadelphia who would like to buy direct from the 
farm, we are unable to give them this information. You see at once the 
need of city organizations which will link with the country organizations. 
It seems to me that the function of the city organization will be largely 
an informational bureau, which will be welcomed by fariners who desire 
to do business in the city. 

There must be increased production in Pennsylvania. The need in 
order to secure increased production is not more farmers but better farmers. 
We want more farmers who are able to grow 30 bushels of wheat to the 
acre instead of 15 bushels. We want more farmers who average 75 bushels 
of shelled corn to the acre instead of 35. We want more potato growers 
who can produce from 200 to 300 bushels of potatoes to the acre instead of 
100. We want more poultrymen who are able to produce 150 eggs per 
year instead of 100. In other words, better farming on lands now culti- 



33 

vated will materially increase production and also the products might be 
sold at a lower figure and the profits of the producers will be materially 
increased. 

In this comiection it is interesting to note that large numbers of city 
boys are studying agriculture at the various agricultural colleges of the 
country. A survey was made last year of the students in the School of 
Agriculture at the Pennsylvania State College and it was found that 
70 out of every 100 boys at State College had entered from towns and 
cities of the state. In other words, three-fourths of the students study- 
ing agriculture at State College are town and city bred boys. This fact 
is significant and it indicates that there is a real " back-to-the-land " 
movement in Pennsylvania. 

There is need of more economic production in Pennsylvania. Thou- 
sands of farmers are spending unnecessary energy in growing their staple 
crops. The more skilful use of approved machinery will help to solve 
the labor problem of Pennsylvania farmers. Some farmers are able to 
grow an acre of corn with 60 hours of human labor; while others spend 
160 hours of labor per acre and do not get any better results. It is seen 
at once that the more skilful use of labor would mean time saved, which 
might be used in cultivating an additional area or perhaps in rest and 
recreation. The statement is often made that the farmer is overworked, 
and this is often the case, although it is frequently due to mismanage- 
ment. Uniform distribution is an exceedingly important matter in 
connection with Pennsylvania market conditions. It is a very common 
thing for a certain product to be selling at a very low price in one city and 
at very satisfactory prices in cities three or four miles away. Co-operative 
organizations will solve this problem. 

The standardization of farm products in the various communities of 
the state should not be overlooked. This is highly essential to the 
successful operation of a co-operative association. We need communities 
which will produce all white or all browTi eggs; communities which will 
grow only two or three varieties of apples; communities which will pro- 
duce certain garden products or small fruits. Such communities would 
soon become well known for the high standard of the products placed on 
the market, and would attract buyers, thus making it unnecessary for 
the community to seek the best markets. In this connection, regional 
adaptation is exceedingly important. It would be foolish to attempt to 
produce apples in a section which is not adapted to apple culture or the 
varieties selected. Some of our mountain sections, remote from the rail- 
road, are especially well adapted to animal husbandry: land is cheap, 
pasture grasses thrive and water is abundant. The stock could be driven 
on hoof to the nearest shipping point. In the hill sections of the state, 
less intensive methods of agriculture should be practiced. There is too 
much of a tendency to plow and cultivate steep hillsides which are subject 
to washing. These lands should be put into permanent pasture, reseed- 
ing as often as may be necessary. 



34 - 

Our producers of fruits, vegetables and other farm crops should 
learn hoAV to place the produce on the market in the most attractive 
condition. There are tricks in all trades and this applies to farming as 
well as to other industries. The manufacturers of toilet articles, such as 
shaving soap and powders, would not be able to show a profit in this 
business if they exercised no more care than many of our farmers when 
marketing the various foodstuffs. The whole problem of putting up the 
produce in a more attractive form demands the most careful considera- 
tion. I remember the time when all the oatmeal sold in country stores 
was put up in kegs and barrels. The manufacturers have since learned 
that it is more convenient and that the oatmeal sells better when put up 
in attractive packages. An extensive grower of potatoes at Norfolk has 
learned that he is able to sell his potatoes at a higher price if the hoops 
around the barrels are painted red. A Long Island strawberry grower 
claims that he gets two cents more a basket by first placing fancy tissue 
paper in the basket, which is folded over top of the baskets after they 
have been filled with berries. A sweet-corn grower of New York has 
materially increased the price received for sweet-corn by packing in 
attractive paper cartons. 

The problem of placing food at the door of the consumer must be 
solved ver}'- largely through co-operation. There must be co-operation 
among the farmers of the state. The institution which I represent stands 
ready to help the farmer in every way that is possible. Our bulletins 
are sent free to all applicants. The County Agent movement is taking 
hold and in the course of a few years will probably be organized in every 
county of the state. There is no more efficient means of taking the 
College to the farmer. The College proposes to meet the needs of the 
farmer by furnishing him the best literature on farm topics, by holding 
Farmers' Weeks and other special meetings, by demonstrations, co-opera- 
tive experiments, corn clubs and other club service, and by the advice of 
experts who will visit farms upon request, and by whatever service may 
be necessary in order to bring to the attention of our producers the 
information which is needed for the successful management of farms. 

Mrs. Smith: We have about ten minutes. If anyone wants to 
discuss Dr. Watts' talk, he will be glad to answer any question and give 
any help the State College can give on any matter having to bear upon 
his address. 

Mrs. D. C. Leeds: I think the fact that there are not more profits 
is due to the fact that the farmers as a rule do not think it is necessary 
to have the chickens picked just right or the fruit packed right. There 
is the reason the farmer loses. 

Dr. Watts : The lady has remarked that the reason the farmers are 
not more successful in realizing profits is that as a rule they do not realize 



35 

the importance of picking the poultry or putting their products on the 
market in a proper condition; they feel the people in the city do not 
demand that. There is therefore need for co-operation along that line. 

Mrs. H. M. Garrett: As a farmer, I do not have much to sell, but 
I found out this thing about the asparagus business: When the stalks 
are the same size all the way through the bunch, you can get a great deal 
better price, but when there are smaller stalks in the bunch, they do not 
get the price. The same way with eggs. If you send eggs of uniform 
color and size, you can get a better price, but if they are mixed up you do 
not get the same price. It is just the same with potatoes or apples or 
anything else that you are apt to sell. 

Mrs. Smith: Mr. Critchfield, the secretary of the Pennsylvania 
Department of Agriculture, is here, and I will call on him to give us a 
few minutes talk today. 

Me. Critchfield: I think you are taking advantage of my youth. 
I do not think I can say anything except to express my gratification at 
being here and to say that I have listened to the address with a great 
deal of pleasure. I am delighted to be here and glad to see that the 
people in the cities are waking up and taking an interest in this important 
question. The farmers want some co-operation along this line, and I am 
glad to know that the day is coming when they are going to get it. I 
shall not detain you by any further remarks. 

Mr. Calwell: The meeting this afternoon will be held in Wither- 
spoon Hall. All the other meetings of the conference will be held in 
this same chamber, except on Saturday afternoon, which is a meeting 
for bankers. All the other meetings are open for the public. The Corn 
Show is at the Bourse, which is a building which runs from Fourth to Fifth 
Street between Chestnut and Market. I assure you every one of these 
meetings will be just as interesting as the one that we have had this 
morning. Every speaker has been picked out because he represents a 
definite idea. 

[The meeting adjourned until 2 o'clock p. m.] 



Afternoon Session, Thursday, December 4, 1913, 2 o'Clock. 
WiTHERSPOON Hall. 



Honorary Chairman, Antonio Sans, Esq., President, Commercial 
Exchange. 

Mr. Sans: It is an honor, ladies and gentlemen, to preside tem- 
porarily over this meeting. The honor is tantamount to the pleasurable 
duty that I am to discharge. In the year 1912, from an acreage of 
107,083,000 we raised 3,124,746,000 bushels of corn. If the same acreage 
had been made to produce three bushels more to the acre it would have 
given us over three bushels per capita of the population of our country. 

Agriculture is a subject which ought to be in the minds of every 
citizen of this country. The present generation may not suffer, but our 
posterity, unless we take means to increase the production and to edu- 
cate the people who inhabit the cities in their development and growth, 
will feel the pinch of poor crops. Our population increases at the rate of 
over twenty million every decade. It will not be a very long period 
before we shall have two hundred million inhabitants in this country, 
instead of one hundred million, or nearly so, that we have today. Think 
of it, gentlemen! What a subject this is! I think that it is paramount 
to any that has come before the American people for many and many 
a year. 

In the year 1909 there were landed in the port of Philadelphia about 
twenty-five thousand immigrants. Of this number, but fifteen hundred 
went to the country. The rest remained in Philadelphia. Think of it, 
gentlemen! They remained so as to become consumers. We don't want 
consumers. We want producers. We want to bring the producers to the 
point where they can supply the consumers. The effort must be made, be 
it strenuous or otherwise, to get these people who center in our cities to 
go to the country, to farms. In order to do that, we must make farming 
life more easy and pleasurable. There ought to be a movement started 
to make the farmer comfortable on his own farm through means of enter- 
tainment and means of libraries and other means that would make his 
life an easier one. 

The gentlemen who have undertaken this corn show and conference 
are entitled to our thanks. The present officials and board of directors 
of the Corn Exchange National Bank are entitled to our sincere thanks 
for having given momentum to the movement. 

(36) 



37 

May I refer to an incident which I read in a shp today in a newspaper 
in the City of Philadelphia stating that a magazine called the Banker 
Farmer has begun its career as a monthly magazine — this month, I believe. 
The effort is to establish better relationship between the controllers of 
the credit of the nation in the interest of those who create and need credit. 
I think that is a movement in the right direction, but if we, individually, ■ 
do not put forth all our efforts toward making this movement a success 
it will avail but little. 

I am deeply interested in this movement, gentlemen. The com- 
mercial body I represent and over which I have the honor to preside, 
handles generally corn, wheat, oats, flour and everything that pertains 
to cereals. There is not any trouble about the marketing. We can take 
care of that. The steamship lines are adequate, and when they are not, 
tramp steamers come in and take their place. Our exchange gets informa- 
tion from all over the world, with quotations, and everything is ready 
to be marketed when we once get it. So the marketing, in my opinion, 
is not as essential as teaching our agriculturists how to raise more and 
better products. 

I have seen corn at the Philadelphia Exchange today, or rather, at 
the Corn Show in the Bourse Building, that could not be beat. I have 
seen ears of corn there that could not be improved upon. There was not 
the waste of that much space where I could even put the end of a pin in. 
Not a bit of waste. It was just as full at the head as it was at the end of 
the ear. That is the thing that tells. That is what we want to encourage. 
We want to encourage these people to select their seed, and if they plant 
good seed, outside of weather changes and weather conditions, we are 
bound to raise good corn. 

I do not want to detain you further. I will now turn you over to 
Mrs. Smith, who will act as permanent chairman. I take pleasure in 
introducing Mrs. Smith. [Applause.] 

Mrs. Smith: The next speaker on the programme is Mr. C. L. Logan, 
who is in charge of the farm bureau of the Binghamton Chamber of 
Conunerce. Many of j^ou know that this piece of work is undertaken by 
the Delaware and Lackawanna Railroad, the Chamber of Commerce of 
Binghamton, the State College of New York, and the Department of 
Agriculture of the United States; but the pioneer work, so far as is known 
in this country, is the undertaking of the Chamber of Commerce. The 
story of the inception of that work and of its present state of progress will 
be told to you by Mr. Logan. I take pleasure in introducing Mr. Logan, 
of Binghamton, in charge of the farm bureau of the Chamber of Commerce. 
[Applause.] 



CITY TRADE BODIES AND AGRICULTURE. 



C. L. Logan, 
Secretary, Binghamton Chamber of Commerce, Binghamton, N. Y. 



There cannot be any doubt in the minds of men who have given the 
question of agricultural conditions in the States any consideration as to 
the advisibility of making an earnest attempt to improve those conditions 
and to give the tillers of the soil every encouragement possible to make 
their yields greater. 

We have here a problem which year by year takes on an increased 
importance, for in it are bound up the prosperity, the happiness, the exist- 
ence of our nation. The farm is truly the basis of human life; all the vast 
enterprises of men have their beginnings in the food which the soil supplies, 
and progress is hampered or accelerated by the forces which decrease or 
increase agricultural productiveness. 

History shows us again and again the truth that a nation's political 
stability as well as its economic growth is founded upon its soil and the 
use made of it. It is imperative that our people turn to the lessons of 
history, study them carefully and seek for remedies to overcome them, for 
as yet we have not learned to evade them. 

Men of vision, particularly those who have studied these lessons, see 
the peril and warn against it. Guglielmo Ferrero, in a masterly study of 
the Roman Empire's fall, points this parallel: "In no country is this 
condition more apparent than in the United States. What nation might 
more easily be borne along by the marvelous abundance of its treasures? 
It lacks neither territory, nor capital, nor labor. Yet in no country of 
Europe are the wails over costliness so loud and so common as in the 
United States. Why? Because in America the disproportion between 
the progress of the fields and that of the cities, between that of industries 
and that of agriculture, is still greater than in Europe." 

We have men and women of vision here in America, many of them, 
who are studying these conditions and helping each in his or her small or 
large way to solve them. I am not going to attempt to go over the field 
and name any individuals, but wish to speak to you from the viewpoint 
and activities of the city business man. The mere fact that you have 
gathered here in Philadelphia to discuss these conditions shows an awaken- 
ing on the part of your business man for the need of an intelligent co- 
operation between the city man and his country brother in meeting the 
problems of country life and an increasing interest in the possibilities of 

(38) 



39 

that life. To my mind the fact that our men actively engaged in commercial 
pm-suits are now anxious to study agricultural conditions and help solve 
the problems there presented, is one of the most helpful signs of the times 
in which we live. Because I believe, regardless of the splendid work of our 
Agricultural Department in Washington, and state agricultural depart- 
ments, and agricultural colleges, and our experimental stations, we need 
the \'iewpoint and the initiative of the business man and his co-operation 
is bound to be very helpful in giving to those various agencies his advice 
and in carrjdng to them his enthusiasm in meeting and working out large 
problems. 

Now as to one of the methods lately employed to raise the standard 
of the business of farming; and right here I wish to say if any of you have 
an idea that farming is not a busiaess, disabuse yourself of that conception, 
for the elements that go to make the successful farmer are those found in 
the life of the successful merchant, professional man or manufacturer. 

I presume you wish to have from me a brief resume of the " Biughamton 
Idea," not that we were the originators of the Farm Bureau Idea, but so 
called by the Department in Washington because the Biughamton Chamber 
of Commerce was the first co mm ercial organization to co-operate with the 
other agencies in the field and lend its financial and active support. 

The Binghamton Chamber of Commerce, Hke similar organizations, 
had until two years ago occupied itself -uith efforts to make Binghamton 
a better place to live and do business in. To locate new industries, to 
develop local industries, to assist employers in getting labor, to develop 
the trade of local merchants, wholesale and retail, to secure cheaper and 
better transportation facilities; all with the object of making Binghamton 
a larger and more prosperous city. With this programme we beheved our 
acti^dties complete. 

A little over two years ago the secretary of our co mm ercial organization 
and a few of its members began to realize the importance of developing 
the territory tributary to Binghamton. Only the most casual observation 
was necessary to convince us the organization was neglecting the most 
important industry upon which the prosperity of Binghamton depended 
— ^the industry of farming, which gave employment to more people in the 
territory tributary to Binghamton than any other industry or group of 
industries in the citA', and needed our careful consideration. 

Upon investigation one of the appalling conditions discovered was 
the fact that the population of the entire section, exclusive of the cities 
and growing villages, was less in 1895 than its recorded population in 1865. 
To a commercial secretary nothing is so serious, nothing counts so much as 
population. 

It only reciuired a presentation of these facts to the Boar d of Directors 
of our Chamber of Commerce to have them authorize the appointment 
of a special committee to investigate this subject and to report back its 
findings with recommendations as to the action which should be taken by 



40 

our organization. Only two members of the Binghamton Chamber of Com- 
merce were appointed as members of this committee, a wholesale grocer 
and a producer of certified milk. Three other members were selected from 
the adjacent farming sections, men who were known as successful farmers, 
one a general farmer, one a truck farmer and one a leader in the Grange. 

This committee took some time to work out what seemed to them the 
best solution of the problems presented. This committee found a great 
need of, first, an application of sound business methods; second, a more 
general use of the practical results of scientific experimentation. They 
found much work already being done in the field by the U. S. Department 
of Agriculture, oiir state department, our agricultural colleges and experi- 
mental stations. In some instances duplication of work was evident and 
in nearly all instances the field men were attempting to cover four, five or 
more counties and it was clearly evident it was impossible for one man to 
do efficient work unless his territory was restricted so he might get in per- 
sonal touch with the man tilling the soil. 

One of the first things which suggested itself to the committee was the 
establishment of a demonstration farm. It was found at this time the 
Lackawanna Railroad was thinking of establishing such a farm along its 
lines. We immediately got in touch with the Lackawanna people and the 
two organizations co-operating went so far as to get options on several 
farms near Binghamton which could be used for such purposes. When the 
committee had a meeting with Prof. W. J. Spillman, then and now in charge 
of the office of Farm Management, Bureau of Plant Industry, Wash- 
ington, Prof. Spillman discouraged the demonstration farm idea because 
it had not given the results for which it was operated, except in a few 
instances. Many would not even come to see the farm, a large majority 
of those who did would say, "If I had the money of the government, the 
state or the railroad I could accomplish as good results." Instead of 
encouraging them with possibilities of greater attainments, they went away 
discouraged by their own handicaps, feeling the things necessary for their 
success were out of reach. 

Then too each farming community already has its demonstration 
farm because of the successful operation by some individual. 

At this point the committee concluded to attempt to interest all the 
agencies working in the field or interested in the work to co-operate with 
the Binghamton Chamber of Commerce with a view of having its farm 
bureau considered the local agency through which all the other bodies 
would work. This plan met with an enthusiastic reception from the officials 
of all these various agencies. Secretary Wilson, then the head of the 
Department of Agriculture, said; "We have spent years in inaugurating 
campaigns of education, frequently entering territories where our efforts 
were not welcomed by the farmers whom we aimed to assist. It is indeed 
most encouraging to have a community come to us for our co-operation." 
We now know a large number of people interested vitally in country life 



41 

problems who believe this plan the most effective ever devised, inasmuch as 
it advances the local interest through its work and financial support. 

The next move was for the various bodies interested to sign an agree- 
ment covering the objects and policy of the work and the financial share of 
each necessary to carry it on. To quote from the agreement : 

"The object is to undertake propaganda work in the agricultural 
district in the vicinity of Binghamton, N. Y.; to make an agricultural 
survey of the territory; study the farmer's problems, find their solution by 
a study of the practices of successful farmers; study the relations of types 
of farming to local conditions of soil, climate, markets, etc. To demon- 
strate systems of managements used by successful farmers in the district 
and conduct experiments with the farmers, educational work through the 
media of institutes, etc., advising with the farmers individually and other- 
wise as to the best methods, crops, cropping systems, stock, labor, tools 
and other equipment." 

Shortly after signing of the agreement an agent was appointed to take 
charge of the work, and took up his duties March 20, 1911. Since that time 
the work has been going on effectively and quietly. In the three years we 
have not revolutionized the conditions as found in the beginning, but we 
have accomplished many things for the betterment of country life in our 
section, and we are arousing an enthusiasm as to the possibilities of agricul- 
ture which is bound to make its force felt in the future. We have never 
had the idea we could turn over the old prejudices or tendencies, or change 
the lines of thought, operation and management in one year, three years or 
five, but we have felt by steadily following certain lines of work we would 
eventually get the impression in the mind of the man whom we wished to 
reach, of a real enthusiasm for his work and its possibilities for himself, 
his family and their children. 

We are today beginning to see some of these impressions taking hold. 
We can see general evidences along certain lines of better nianagement, 
many evidences of individual co-operation which have been successful. 
Our merchants in the city, especially those dealing directly with the farmer, 
have already felt the new force, all showing the effectiveness of the work. 

We have now twenty counties in New York State with Farm Bureau 
Agents in the field, all under the able direction of Mr. Lloyd S. Tenny, 
State Leader. These organizations are financed in different ways and until 
the present the work too has followed different lines, the local conditions 
sometimes making this necessary; and on the other hand the office of Farm 
Management and the State Leader have been groping to a certain extent 
to find the most efficient methods for the farm agent to follow. 

In the beginning our local agent's salary and expenses were paid by 
the U. S. Government, the Lackawanna Railroad and the Binghamton 
Chamber of Commerce. These three bodies were the active signers of 
the original agreement, the New York State Department of Agriculture 
and the Agricultural College, Ithaca, agreeing to co-operate whenever 



42 

possible in advancing the work. In 1912 the County of Broome appro- 
priated $1,000 for the work and this year the State Department of Agricul- 
ture contributed, so we now have five agencies actively helping to carry 
on the work. The Chamber of Commerce receives all moneys and pays out 
same on vouchers, which are regularly audited and the books or accounts 
are at all times ready for the inspection of any of the interested parties to 
the agreement. The office of Farm Management has charge of the man in 
the field and he is directly supervised by a State Leader. 

You will notice in our local organization the farmer was not repre- 
sented in the agreement by any organization. Largely through the 
experience and advice of our State Leader we now see this is a mistake 
and early in November called a meeting of farmers to perfect such an 
organization among themselves which would become a party to the agree- 
ment and have a representation on the Farm Bureau Committee. Such 
an organization was perfected and, while small at present, we believe it 
will grow rapidly and become a vital force in the work. I have a copy 
of the constitution and by-laws of the Farmers' Organization with me for 
any one to look over who may be interested. 

It took our Chamber of Commerce five years to arouse a genuine 
widespread enthusiasm among its members, the business men of Bing- 
hamton, to a point where they are willing not only to dig down into their 
pockets for money, but to give very liberally of their time in helping 
develop a greater and more prosperous city. 

When we started the conditions were not more discouraging than 
those confronting us in the work of our Farm Bureau. We are hopeful 
of arousing the same widespread enthusiasm over its work and oppor- 
tunities among the farmers that we have succeeded in arousing among our 
own. members. Indications are multiplying; this enthusiasm is gaining 
a strong foothold in our county. 

In the end we will have a city of wide-awake, aggressive and pro- 
gressive business men, and Binghamton will be the center of a farming 
community of wide-awake, aggressive and progressive farmers. This 
result will not be accomplished by the city man alone, nor by the farmers 
alone, but the result of both working together for the greater prosperity 
of the whole community. 

Mes. Smith: I think you will all agree that this sort of movement 
between the city and country is ideal, and it is a movement that is 
undoubtedly given force as the city dweller suffers more and more from 
the high cost of living. 

I am very glad that Mr. Logan presented to you in a very clear 
form exactly what they have done and the way they do it. To me it 
was an interesting history and a story that was very dramatic — very 
dramatic in the way they discovered where they were falling behind and 
the way they set about remedying it. I want to say this is only an 



43 

instance, and we have duplications of these instances all over the world, 
for no city can afford to go along in its career without taking an account 
of stock as to its environment and find out whether the situation is really 
a wholesome one or not, or whether the farmers who supply the city are 
in a discouraged or encouraged state of mind; whether the market condi- 
tions are what they are cracked up to be; whether there is something the 
matter; if there is dissatisfaction, where is the dissatisfaction. Where 
there is unquietness, naturally the inference is that there is some influence 
at work that is not wholesome, either for the producer or the consumer. 
That is the sort of thing Binghamton inculcated, and it is for the good of 
everybody concerned, and I thought in presenting to you the work of 
this Binghamton Chamber of Commerce we could not have possibly 
offered you anything that was more to the point as regards the present 
situation than that. The thought that lies back of this afternoon's pro- 
gramme is, first of all, the marketing. Marketing is put down as the general 
topic, and we are going to have some people here with us who will solve 
the question of marketing, and we have with us this afternoon two experts 
on the egg question and the poultry question. As we all know, there are 
no two questions today that occupy the public more. 

We have picked out to illustrate the question of the handling of eggs 
and the marketing of eggs a young man who is in charge of the market 
bureau started by Cornell University to benefit the farmer, and which 
has given great satisfaction to the local farmers. Mr. Benjamin will tell 
you what they have done, how they do it and what conditions they found, 
and he will follow his talk this afternoon by showing a few slides this 
evening, as the lantern is not here now. The lantern, unfortunately, is 
at City Hall, and he will have a chance this evening to show you some 
slides to illustrate his talk. I take pleasure in introducing to you Mr. 
E. W.. Benjamin, of Cornell University, the head of the marketing depart- 
ment, who will talk on ''Problems in Marketing Eggs." [Applause.] 



PROBLEMS IN MARKETING EGGS. 



Mr. E. W. Benjamin, 

Department of Poultry Husbandry, College of Agriculture, Cornell University. 



Mr. Benjamin: Madam Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: First I 
might say I do not know how to express my appreciation for this oppor- 
tunity of being here today. I am very glad to be here at a conference of 
this sort, as this conference, it seems to me, is one which will really aid in 
bringing the important questions of distributing food products to a focus. 
It marks a yery distinct stepping stone in improving many of the chief 
faults in our systems of food handling and in connecting the producer 
with the consumer in a better way than we have been connecting them in 
the past. 

My subject is ''Problems in Marketing Eggs." I consider that the 
problem in marketing eggs is the problem of making both the consumer 
and the producer better satisfied. One is just as important as the other. 
Both the consumer and the producer should be better satisfied than they 
are at present if we are going to in any way solve this problem of market- 
ing eggs, or as a matter of fact, the problem of marketing any food prod- 
uct, since the principles involved are always essentially the same. 

I presume that eggs are thought of about as much as anything at 
this time of the year. It happens once a year that everybody thinks that 
eggs are away out of sight and it appears that there is a great deal more 
trickery with the marketing of eggs than exists in the marketing of other 
products. Regularly every year, at this season and a few weeks earlier, 
everybody's hens have stopped laying. If you go out into the country 
and try to get some fresh eggs, you will see how hard it is to get them. 
The hens have stopped laying entirely and the farmers have not seen an 
egg for a long, long time. We are now just beginning to get fresh eggs, 
and in two or three weeks the number of fresh eggs will increase and the 
price will gradually go down. Just at this time, however, it is almost 
impossible to get fresh eggs from the American farming communities. 
Some who specialize in poultry farming do have eggs the year round and 
can afford to properly take care of the birds for the purpose of supplying 
a few consumers, but it is almost impossible to get fresh eggs on the gen- 
eral market at this time of the year. As a substitute we have the cold 
storage product or product that has been held for a varying length of 
time, coming in to supply that need. 

In making both the producer and consumer better satisfied, I might 
enumerate the things that the consumer wants, and the first one of^these 

(44) 



45 

is lower price. No consumer wants to have the prices any higher than 
they are at present. What they want is a lower price for the product. 
Along with lower prices, the consumers want better quality. They want 
to pay less for better goods, and along with that they want to have the 
marketing at least as convenient as it is at present. These are the three 
things they want: lower prices, better quahty and convenience. 

The producers, on the other hand, are looking forward to receiving 
higher prices, with the maximum degree of convenience. They are look- 
ing forward to having higher prices, while the consumers are looking 
forward to having lower prices. The consumer also wants better quality, 
and both want to have things just as convenient as they are now, or more 
convenient if possible. These then are the factors that we have to 
consider. 

The methods of attacking this problem which are open to the con- 
sumer—and I think most of the people to whom I am speaking today are 
consumers or are interested in the consumer's end of the game — are, first, 
encourage the farmers to improve the raethod of producing the product, 
both by lowering its cost and improving its quality. If the farmers could 
produce their products at less cost and also produce better products, then 
they would really be getting better pay for their labor after all. If they 
really did not get any more per dozen, but they produced more dozens of 
eggs at the same price per dozen, they would be able to make more profit 
than now. 

Thus, one method of attack is simply by improved methods of pro- 
duction. You can talk a long time about improved methods of produc- 
tion. You can go out among the farmers and tell them that they ought 
to do this and ought to do that, and it is the easiest thing in the world to 
tell them how much better you could do if you owned the place, but you 
have never been in their place probably and cannot appreciate their 
viewpoint. If many of us were to put ourselves in their place, possibly 
we could talk more sensibly than we can now, and this is probably the 
reason that it is so commonly said that "you can talk and talk and talk 
to the farmer, and yet when you go back you will find that the farmers 
have not changed their method a bit." No matter what you tell them, 
they will not change their methods, because their methods are better, 
they say, and they have been trying it for a long time. There is natu- 
rally competition among farmers, and we would indeed expect that in 
any certain community after generations of experiments, very good 
methods of farming have already been adopted. These farmers have 
been doing the same thing for many years, and have adopted just exactly 
what they have thought to be the best methods. 

We have found incidentally that the only way to really change the 
farmer's methods of production, the only way to improve them rapidly, 
is to actually show the farmer that there is a better method, if there is 
any such better method — actually show them that there is a better 



46 

method, either by doing it ourselves or by getting them to try it. So 
what I am going to speak of this afternoon particularly will be the 
co-operative organization that we have started at Ithaca, in connection 
with the New York State College of Agriculture, by means of which we 
have to some extent shown farmers better methods of marketing their 
products, and we have hoped not only to show them that, but also to 
show them how to produce better products than they were producing, 
and the results have been phenomenal. 

We have been talking to the farmers around Ithaca for a long, long 
time — sent speakers out to them, and they have not changed much. 
Then we started this organization and attempted to handle the products 
for the farmers, and showed them that we could get more money for their 
fresh eggs than we could for their stale eggs. Previously we had told 
them that fresh eggs were worth more than stale eggs, but that did not 
make any difference when they could get as much for a stale egg as they 
could for a fresh egg; but when we took their eggs and returned to them 
a check at the rate of sixty cents a dozen for their fresh eggs and only 
forty cents for eggs which they had held over from the week before, then 
the next week nearly every egg received was fresh. That is the way to 
get them interested and that is what we have been endeavoring to do 
around Ithaca. 

I will pass on, first, with another method of attack, and then return 
more definitely to this co-operative association. After improving the 
method of the production of the products, we have then to deal with the 
method of the distribution of these products, or carrying of the products, 
just as we find them, from the farmer to the consumer. I will be able to 
take this up a little better with the lantern slides, but I might say that 
the closer we can get the consumer to the producer, the better off they 
both are. When we have the producer over here and the consumer away 
over there, we are not going to improve the quality of these eggs and this 
produce by carrying them from this producer over to the consumer. 
The farther off the consumer is, the poorer the quality will be by the time 
the produce reaches him. We also know that we are not going to carry 
this produce over there for nothing. We have got to charge something 
for that work. The farther off a consumer is the more it is going to cost 
to get the produce to him. If we can get the consumer closer to the 
producer in any possible way, the better will be the quality of the pro- 
duce which the consumer will receive and the lower will be the price that 
he will have to pay for it. That, on the face of it, seems like cutting out 
the middleman. We have heard a lot about that, but I do not intend to 
infer that we should in any way cut out all the middlemen. We think, 
in a good many cases, there are more middlemen than are desirable, but 
under most conditions the middleman is necessary. If the producers try 
to send their products to the consumers by parcel post or by any other 
direct means, they would get into a very complicated proposition. Every 



47 

producer would have to deal with many consumers and every consumer 
would have to deal with several producers. There is a method and means 
of organization whereby the consumer shall deal with a man who under- 
stands their needs and their wants, and then that man shall deal with the 
producers. I shall be able to show this method better with the lantern 
slides tonight. 

We believe, as a rule, that some man is needed between this pro- 
ducer, who just specializes in producing the best stuff he can in the cheap- 
est way, and this consumer, on the other hand, who should endeavor to 
buy more economically than he does at the present time. 

So we go on to the third phase of this question, which is a matter 
of importance, and that is the buying of the product. That can be 
improved. We can make an improvement in the methods of production, 
methods of distribution and also improve the methods of buying on the 
part of the consumers. The high cost of living is undoubtedly due to a 
great extent to the extravagant wants of the consumers, who are becom- 
ing more and more exacting all the time, and the housewife's problem is 
that of learning to buy more economically. They do not buy the very 
cheapest grade of eggs which they can get and still have eggs which are 
suitable for their various purposes. The housewives do not have to buy 
strictly fresh white eggs to make cake with. They do not have to buy 
the very bqst eggs for that purpose. You do not have to have white eggs 
instead of brown eggs. Brown eggs are just as good as white eggs. The 
difference in price between white eggs and brown eggs in the New York 
market is not based on the relative quality of these eggs, as a rule, but 
is based on the foolish tastes of the consumers who buy those eggs and 
who are willing to pay more for the white eggs; consequently there is 
more of a demand for the white eggs. There is no difference in the interior 
quality of a white egg and that of a brown egg. The consumers of New 
York and Philadelphia should use brown eggs instead of white eggs if 
they want to lower the cost of living. It is said among cold storage men 
that brown eggs even keep better in cold storage than white eggs. That 
is supposed to be due, I believe, to some difference in the shell, but I 
have never been able to find out just why a brown egg keeps better than 
a white egg. If brown eggs are worth more than white eggs for storage, 
then they should be higher in price than white eggs, but that is not the 
case at this time. It is just the other way; white eggs are higher and the 
consumers have the idea that the higher price for white eggs indicates 
that the white egg is better. That is especially so in New York City, 
due to the fact that most of the large farms around New York City have 
White Leghorns and other Mediterranean breeds which produce white 
eggs, while the majority of the brown eggs come from the Middle West 
and from the South, where the farmers have more of the larger general 
purpose breeds. In Boston the brown egg usually brings more than the 
white egg, and this condition is caused by a reversal of the conditions 
around New York City. 



48 

Now, I have given you in substance the methods that we have fol- 
lowed in attacking this problem of improving conditions in the vicinity 
of Ithaca, and I will go into it more fully later in connection with what 
we have done. If any one has any questions to ask relating to this, I will 
be glad to have you come back at me as soon as I am through. 

The idea of organizing a co-operative association in the vicinity of 
the College of Agriculture occurred to us, especially after we had endeavored 
to connect up the individual farmers with the consumers in the larger 
cities. Very few producers in the vicinity of Ithaca had any idea of how 
to get connected with the larger consumer or with the city consumer. 
I do not know of any who sold direct to the city consumers. I went 
down to New York, went around visiting the purchasing agents of many 
of the large hotels. I must have visited twenty-five or thirty of the 
larger hotels and retail stores. I also visited Mrs. Heath of the House- 
wife's League, and tried to get in touch with all the larger consumers 
that I could, and I told them that we were planning to connect them up 
with some producers. The first trouble with our plan seemed to be that 
we did not have any single farmer large enough to produce enough eggs to 
supply any single customer. The large consumers wanted to get a large 
number of eggs, and they wanted to be able to depend on that source 
for a regular supply. Most of them got eggs from some wholesale dealer, 
who could furnish a few dozens or several cases per day. In other words, 
they were in the habit of ordering daily just what they wanted. That 
was not only the case with one, but seemed to be very common, and 
I could see that we had to offer big inducements to get them away from 
their common dealers in the immediate neighborhood and influence them 
to get their eggs direct from the producers, in spite of the fact that this 
method would probably enable them to get better eggs. 

So I went back to Ithaca with the idea of getting in touch with bigger 
farmers, better products, and getting a lot of the producers together. It 
was with that idea that we started in. 

I went back and we talked it over with the farmers of the neighbor- 
hood and we tried to get the farmers to organize with the idea of getting 
enough eggs so we could get a certain trade estabhshed and to hold this 
trade by supplying it the year round; during the winter when the con- 
sumers were unable to get eggs anywhere else, as well as during the spring 
and summer when eggs were very plentiful. We immediately started 
to organize these farmers. They all realized that it would be a good 
thing to do and yet nobody was ready to make the start. They did not 
want to go into anything unless their neighbors did. So we set a certain 
day about the middle of February and told them that from that time on 
they might bring their eggs to the College, and the College would look 
after the marketing, and then would return to them all that the eggs were 
sold for, less the actual expense the College had undergone in handling 
them. This expense included every operation. We did not charge for 



49 

our energy spent as promoters, but we charged for all the actual expense 
of marketmg the eggs. We hired special assistants to do the candling 
and grading of the eggs. We started out by receiving only a few cases 
the first week and we shipped those eggs, first, to a commission man. 
We did not have any special trade established. This connnission man 
paid us a cent above top wholesale quotations. We sent all the eggs that 
were brought to us, the best as well as all other grades, and then as soon 
as returns were received, we in turn forwarded to the farmers our checks, 
simply taking out so much per dozen for handling, which amounted to 
approximately two cents per dozen, and the farmers were getting one 
and one-half or two cents per dozen more than they had been receiving 
before. Gradually the farmers began to bring in more eggs and we were 
able to establish a trade with some New York hotels for the best grades. 
This hotel trade gave us much better returns for our best grades of eggs 
than the wholesalers could, and so from this time on our markets were 
considerably improved. This last fall we have had difficulty again in 
getting eggs enough to supply the trade, because the farmers were not 
in the habit of trying to produce many eggs during the winter, because 
the price had never risen over about thirty-five cents per dozen, and they 
could not afford to produce eggs for that. We had to start sending out 
wagons to collect eggs from the farmers, and it was a difficult proposition 
to find them, but we did find a few and the prices received were away 
beyond what the individual producers could have obtained by them- 
selves for their small lots. The last returns paid to the farmers were at 
the rate of about sixty-seven cents per dozen for the fancy white eggs. 
The brown eggs were fifteen cents less per dozen. Fifteen cents per dozen 
difference between white and brown eggs. Of course, it is up to the farmer 
to produce white eggs if he can get more for white eggs than he can for 
brown eggs, but the consumer, on the other hand, who uses white eggs 
pays more than she needs to for the desired degree of freshness. Here 
are two counterbalancing forces. If we turn to the consumer we should 
advise him to use brown eggs, and if we turn to the producer we tell him 
to produce white eggs and he will get a higher price for them, and eventu- 
ally the prices of brown and white eggs ^dll be more nearly equal. 

Conservatively speaking, the farmers who cared for their products 
were able to average about fifty cents per dozen for their eggs, white or 
brown, while last year these same farmers during the same season of the 
year were not getting more than thirty or thirty-five cents for their eggs. 
This year eggs are about five cents higher than they were last year, but 
this fact comes far from offsetting the advantage of organization. Next 
spring, if we get for the farmers two cents more per dozen than they 
could otherwise have obtained, we can call our work very successful. 

The organization is not binding on the farmers at the present time. 
We are simply holding the farmers by reason of the benefits which they 
get from the organization. We do not ask them to become members yet, 



50 

but we expect to get everything definitely organized in due time. It is 
not much use asking farmers to become members of an organization from 
which they are deriving no benefit, so we are just asking them to bring 
in their eggs or send them if they want to. If they bring in their eggs, we 
try to sell them. If they don't want to bring in any eggs and are not 
interested, we don't care. 

As further information relative to our work, I will read now from a 
recent report from the Poultry Department to the Director of the College : 

''The co-operative marketing association project, organized during 
the year and which has now been in operation about seven months, 
developed more satisfactorily even than we had anticipated. The depart- 
ment has supervised the organization of the Ithaca Producers' Associa- 
tion. This project is under the immediate supervision of Mr. E. W. 
Benjamin, who reports that the association has been handling the poultry 
and eggs produced by 168 patrons within a radius of approximately ten 
miles of Ithaca. The number of eggs handled by the association for its 
patrons from March 1 to October 1, 1913, seven months, was 31,511| 
dozens, equal to 1,050 cases of thirty dozens each, or approximately two 
and one-half car loads. The amount of poultry handled during the same 
time was 6,538| lbs., or approximately three and one-quarter tons. The 
total net returns to the patrons were $7,753.86. It is estimated that the 
patrons have been aided in receiving about three cents per dozen more 
for their eggs and two cents per pound more for their poultry than they 
would otherwise have been likely to receive; or, expressed in money 
value, the patrons have received about $130 more for their poultry and 
$945 more for their eggs, or a total of $1,076 more than they would other- 
wise have been able to secure by the usual methods. This increase in 
profits is due, primarily, to greater care in testing, grading and packing, 
which has resulted in higher prices being received. The educational 
value of the project is a stimulus to greater production of a better quality 
of poultry and eggs. More systematic care and accounting is of even 
greater advantage to the patrons than the increase in their net profits, 
due to the sales. The project is of benefit not only to the producer, but 
also to the consumer, and has resulted in securing close co-operation 
with persons who otherwise might not be in touch with the college." 

This educational feature is one of our strong points. At certain 
intervals we send out circulars to these farmers telling them how to 
market their products, at what particular time to sell; how to pack their 
poultry when they bring it up for sale; how to keep their eggs; that is, 
in a cool or rather moist place; not to allow the eggs to heat nor to get 
chilled; not to allow the male birds to be with the laying hens, and many 
other timely suggestions. 

The fertile egg is probably one of the greatest troubles we have at the 
present time in the handling of market eggs. The germ of the fertile egg 
will start to develop at a temperature of about 72° Fahrenheit, and if 



51 

kept for a very long period, it will rapidly decompose. The fertile egg is 
very undesirable for use as a market product. We tell the farmers of 
these things and help them to decide which breed to pick out, if they are 
going to enlarge their poultry business, aiid they appreciate the informa- 
tion. They realize that if they do not produce the right sort of products, 
they cannot demand a high price for it. 

We believe that the association is working on a fairly efficient basis. 
Of course, just as soon as we have a co-operative organization, there is a 
tendency for the operator to use less efficient methods than he will if it 
is his own private enterprise. 

One of the great drawbacks in getting an organization started is 
that when many men are banded together, responsibility is liable to rest 
upon no one person and the efforts become slackened. In my work with 
this association I have found that the margin of profit between the pro- 
ducer and the wholesaler is usually very small. There is not such a large 
margin of profit as is often represented. There are many producers who 
have enough eggs so that the benefits of co-operation are very slight and 
they are able to send their eggs direct to the consumers. They have 
enough products to send direct to the hotel or large consumer, and it is 
not our purpose to handle them now. We just handle the products from 
the smaller producer, and if he does not have enough to send to us direct 
we collect them with many others and thereby save the countless delays 
occurring when the eggs pass through the ordinary "huckster-country 
store" route. The more producers who furnish products and the more 
produce they can furnish, the less will be the cost of handling and the 
lower will be the cost of this produce to the consumer. 

My time is Hmited, and I will be able to tell you more about this 
problem, with the lantern slides which will be shown this evening. 

Mr. Felix Albright: I would fike to ask the rate of charge for a 
day's board at the hotel that pays sixty-seven cents for eggs. What 
would they charge me a day for a day's board at that hotel? 

Mr. Benjamin: Of course, these eggs go to one of the largest hotels 
in the city. 

Mr. Albright: I would like to know the cost of board for one day. 

Mr. Benjamin: Of course, the hotel furnishes other services than 
that required in the preparation of eggs. While the labor itself may be 
nominal, there is a lot of other things necessary in a hotel in order to 
satisfy their customers. 

Mr. Herbert P. Brown: I would fike to ask why there is this 
difference in the price of eggs. You say the farmers got thirty cents last 
year, and this year they got about sixty cents. What made that dif- 
ference so much as that? 



52 

Mr. Benjamin: The difference is due to the fact that last year the 
farmers sold their eggs to country peddlers, who went around and who 
picked up the country stock, and by the time it got to the wholesale man 
eggs were not worth any more than that. The farmer does not think his 
eggs are better this year than last year. He does not believe in holding 
his eggs, and disposing of them promptly; they are of a better quality, 
and that is the reason they are getting greater prices. The improved 
manner of distribution in getting these eggs from the farmer to- the 
market is the reason he is getting more. 

Mr. Brown: Is it a fact that in Boston bro^vn eggs are worth more 
than white eggs, and a man there pays as much for brown eggs as a New 
Yorker pays for white eggs? 

Mr. Benjamin: That is a fact; he pays about five cents more for 
brown eggs than for white eggs. That is due to the fact that around 
Boston they have more hens laying brown eggs. The product in the 
immediate vicinity of Boston is usually brown eggs. 

Mr. John J. Macdonald : I was very much interested in the address 
of Mr. Benjamin, and he brought out something I am very much inter- 
ested in, and that is the middleman. I happen to be one of those who 
have been robbing the people for the last thirty or forty years, according 
to the newspapers. I am glad to see the Agricultural Department of 
New York is back of our plan and standing up for us. Another thought 
has been brought to our minds and that is, that the agricultural colleges 
of New York are authorizing their customers to ask sixty-six cents a 
dozen for eggs, and Mr. Benjamin says he was down in New York and 
consulted with Mrs. Heath. The other day I saw an interview in the 
World of New York, in which she said she only got thirty cents a dozen 
for eggs. There is some discrepancy here somewhere. Mr. Benjamin 
has made the best argument for the middleman I have ever heard made. 
The middleman will be here with us when you and I are in our graves. 
You can't do without him. I will say right now that this thing has gone 
on until the people begin to believe that the man between was getting 
eight or ten or fifteen cents a dozen profit on eggs, and now we have Mr. 
Benjamin declaring that the farmer gets it all. 

Mr. Benjamin: I think, perhaps, you may have misunderstood me. 
I told you, in the first place, that I believe the middleman is necessary 
to connect up the producer with the consumer. What we have done is 
simply to get the producers together, and in this particular we are in the 
shape of middlemen. These people are not large producers, but we get 
enough together in order to be able to send enough eggs direct to the 
wholesale dealer or large consumer. 

Mrs. Smith: I do not want to interfere with this discussion, but the 
next speaker on this afternoon's programme will speak on the question of 



53 

poultry, and that is something we are very much interested in. I am not 
as personally acquainted with him as with Mr. Benjamin, but I have 
known so much of Mr. Opperman, and his wonderful work, and I have 
read so much of his work in the country, that I consider him one of the 
greatest specialists on the subject he is going to talk about. He lives 
at Three Oaks Villa, Berwyn, Md., and there isn't a question, from the 
number of notches there should be in a White Leghorn's comb to the 
kind of eggs that a White Leghorn or Plymouth Rock should produce, 
that he can't answer. It is a question that he is familiar -with, and I take 
pleasure in introducing to you Mr. Charles L. Opperman, who will now 
speak to us. [Applause.] 



PROBLEMS IN MARKETING EGGS. 



Charles L. Opperman, 
Berwyn, Md. 



Madam Chairman, Members of the Conference, Ladies and Gentlemen: 
I fear that your chairman has given me a reputation which I may find 
rather hard to fulfill. If I knew all that she claimed for me, I am sure I 
could entertain you in a most satisfactory manner. However, even 
though I cannot promise to furnish all the information she claimed, I 
shall attempt to leave with you a few of the vital points connected with 
the handling of the nation's egg supply. 

Before developing this subject I wish to add just a few words to 
what Prof. Benjamin has had to say concerning a co-operative plan of 
marketing eggs now in operation at Cornell University. Prof. Benjamin 
has very ably discussed this phase of marketing eggs and I may say, if 
he will permit me, that he has presented the strongest argument I have 
recently heard in favor of the middleman. We have heard so much dur- 
ing the past few weeks about the terrible middleman and the cold-storage 
robbers that I am really almost afraid to express myself on the subject. 
I think, however, that Prof. Benjamin's remarks open the way for me to 
say a word or two about these much berated and little understood busi- 
ness men. To my mind they are as much needed in the handling of eggs 
and produce as the producer himself. Without the middleman in one 
form or another, be it a co-operative concern or commission house, it 
would be practically impossible to properly prepare eggs and many other 
products of the farm in such a way as to be presentable to the buying 
public and without the cold-storage man I do not dare to suggest to you 
how much you would now be paying for fresh eggs and many of the other 
very important commodities of life. 

The middleman and the cold-storage man are not, in the main, the 
ones who are responsible for the present high price of eggs. If a few of 
the women who are making such a to-do over this matter, would look 
into the proposition more closely they would find that the retailer and not 
the parties now being condemned, are in fact the ones who are robbing 
the public pocketbook. By way of illustration, permit me to say that I 
know of several large grocers who make a point of storing eggs in the 
spring and then withdrawing them the next fall and winter as fast as their 
trade demands. These men, as well as other grocers, who buy from 
large egg dealers having holdings in storage houses, take eight or ten 
cases of eggs, which have probably been purchased around twenty-five 

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55 

cents, and grade them over to supply the requirements of their trade. 
In other words, in the hands of these men, ten cases of storage eggs may 
produce as high as five cases of nearby henneries retaiHng anywhere from 
fifty to seventy-five cents a dozen, two or three cases of so-called fresh 
eggs selling at a slightly lower price than the former and finally, what are 
left are then classed as storage eggs. Is it any wonder that the good 
housewife of the country objects to buying storage eggs and demands 
what she is led to believe is the fresh product? If this conference and 
organization wants a problem worthy of its consideration I would like to 
suggest that they do everything in their power to see to it that storage 
eggs are sold as storage eggs. 

Returning to the co-operative idea which has been so well discussed 
by my colleague, I want to say that my experience along this line has 
been that the personal element which naturally enters into these organiza- 
tions has been the greatest setback to their progress. I firmly believe, 
however, that the idea is right and that ultimately the vast majority of 
our agricultural products will be handled along some such lines. To cite 
an instance of the great disadvantage of the personal element, let me 
tell you something about the greatest co-operative state in our union. 
Minnesota has somewhere in the neighborhood of 900 co-operative 
creameries and she also has several large private centralizing concerns. 
Naturally these centralizers are after all the business they can get and 
in order to undermine the co-operative associations, in which they know 
this personal greed for gain is bound to help them, they conduct a station 
in the town where there is a co-operative association and boost the price 
of butter fat until those managing the co-operative concern can no longer 
compete with them. The result you probably already know. The mem- 
bers of the co-operative organization, as soon as the price of the cen- 
tralizers exceeds that of their own office, immediately become suspicious 
of their manager and take their product's to the competitive house. After 
the co-operative concern is completely disorganized the centralizer, who 
has now secured the bulk of the business, gradually reduces the price 
until it again strikes a normal level. This may not be the exact plan 
that is always followed in such cases, but from my observation it presents 
a fairly accurate picture of the usual situation. While I regret to say so 
it is nevertheless true that there seems to be no limit to which American 
business may stoop today in order to crush out a competitor. 

I again repeat that the co-operative idea is a splendid medium 
through which the farmer or producer may buy or sell his products. To 
be successful, however, it is absolutely essential that the men in charge 
be competent, command the respect and confidence of patrons and have 
at heart the welfare and betterment of the community in which they are 
operating. A great many of the failures of the various co-operative 
organizations can be traced to the fact that the men in charge of them 
have little or no knowledge concerning the handling and selling of the 



56 

products in which thej^ deal. Too often a community becomes enthused 
over the co-operative idea and proceeds at once to perfect an organiza- 
tion, elect officers and formulate rules and regulations with little or no 
regard as to the fitness of the various people assigned to different branches 
of the work, to buy, grade, pack and sell the eggs or other commodities 
which they may propose to handle. There can be but one result to such 
methods and that, as you know, is failure. The broker, commission 
man or business man in the city stand but little chance of being successful 
today unless they thoroughly understand every detail of the business with 
which they are connected and this applies equally as well to the officers in 
charge of a co-operative association. Not only must the officers be com- 
petent and proficient, but it is of vital importance that the patrons of a 
co-operative association have implicit confidence in their officials. This 
latter thought is to be connected primarily with the prices paid and 
received for products handled. With our wonderful twentieth century 
development of mail service, telegraph and rural free delivery, every 
patron is enabled to procure first-hand information concerning the whole- 
sale market quotations, retail selling prices of practically any product 
that is produced on the farm and, if he makes good use of this information, 
there is no reason why he should be misled by competitive quotations 
which have as their object the undermining and disorganization of the 
independent co-operative organization. He can tell at a glance whether 
or not the officers of his particular association are returning to him the 
proper per cent of profits as manifested by public quotations. If they 
appear to be doing this, it is only fair to the officers and other members 
of the association that he consult with them before going over to any 
competitive buyer who is offering more remunerative prices. The pursu- 
ance of such a policy will, in the main, be conducive to a vigorous, 
healthy growth of the co-operative idea. 

I feel that I should ask your pardon for digressing from the main 
theme of my talk, for while co-operative organizations are more or less 
closely affiliated with the general problem of marketing eggs, they are, so 
to speak, only a drop in the bucket when we consider the enormous 
quantity of eggs that is consumed each year in the congested centers. 
In time their influence is bound to be felt, but at present our attention 
should be directed mainly to the vast problem of properly handling the 
ordinary farm egg which composes over ninety per cent of the commercial 
egg trade. Let us then, for a few minutes, direct our attention to this 
general problem and attempt to ascertain whether or not some methods 
of procedure may be evolved which will have as their final object the 
elimination of the present $45,000,000 yearly loss in the production, 
handling and marketing of the nation's egg supply. 

In order that we may make pertinent suggestions we must first know 
something of the present conditions surrounding the commercial egg 
trade. The production is naturally the first factor which demands our 



57 

attention and knowledge covering this subject must be obtained first 
hand from the farmer himself. A survey of this field reveals to us shift- 
less and haphazard methods of management and no particular attention 
is paid to housing, feeding and breeding. The care and handling of the 
egg itself, which is the question we are most deeply interested in, appears 
to be the last consideration of the producer, and as we follow the egg in 
its journey to the ultimate consumer we shall I hope realize in a measure 
the reason for this apparent indifference on the part of the farmer. 

The most striking reason for this indifference is to be found in the 
absurd methods of handling this perishable product, which have been and 
are still in vogue in many states. Explained in the briefest form, this 
method calls for the payment of a fixed price which happens to be current 
at the time, for each and every dozen of eggs which may be offered for 
sale, regardless of whether the eggs themselves are good, bad or indif- 
ferent. In other words, the only requisite necessary in order to con- 
summate a sale is for each egg to have an intact shell. Under such a 
system is it any wonder that when John Doe brings a case of clean, fresh 
eggs to town and receives the same price that his neighbor is paid for 
rotten eggs, he soon becomes indifferent and cares little or nothing about 
the quality of future products? 

Without a waste of further words, we can sum up the situation with 
the adage, "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Egg 
men, commission men and all others who deal in eggs have only them- 
selves to blame for existing conditions. The standard which they have 
established has been well lived up to by the farmers. All this, however, 
is past history and I take it that this conference is mainly interested in 
suggestions and plans looking to the betterment of existing conditions, 
therefore let us leave this portion of the problem and consider remedies 
which may help to alleviate it. 

We know without further consideration that methods of production 
on the farm are anything but what they should be and the first problem 
then for our attention is the improvement of these conditions. This 
improvement may be accomplished through our agricultural colleges and 
experiment stations with the co-operation of such organizations as we are 
now participating in. The colleges and experiment stations are doing 
everything in their power to help along these lines, but it will not be 
until the city business man, who makes his money by handling eggs, puts 
his shoulder to the wheel and helps by inaugurating progressive, common 
sense methods of buying eggs that we may look for substantial progress. 
The agricultural worker may talk higher quality eggs until he is black in 
the face, it will have little effect until the city egg man offers dollars and 
cents inducement for the producers of the same. Let him also help in 
disseminating knowledge concerning better methods of housing, feeding, 
rearing and breeding poultry. Elementary knowledge is what is needed 
and not dope about the 250-egg hen. Let us first endeavor to improve 
the 70-egg farm hen before we tackle this rainbow. 



58 

In conjunction with whatever efforts may be made to improve pro- 
duction conditions, there should be tremendous agitation along the line 
of improved methods of buying. The old case-count system must be 
discarded and substituted by the quality or loss-off system. The mer- 
chant or business man who purchased a bill of goods simply on the 
guarantee that it would be shipped in a substantial box would be quite 
likely, as has been the case with the egg man, to get nothing but the box. 
Just as soon as every egg man insists that all eggs purchased be candled 
and payment made only for such eggs as are fit for human consumption, 
are we going to begin to make a marked improvement in the quality of 
the commercial egg. I am glad to say that this is now being done in 
several large egg producing states and what we want to do is to continue 
the good work in the State of Pennsylvania. 

The infertile egg is without doubt the most important factor in 
eliminating the present $45,000,000 loss in handling the nation's egg 
supply. Carefully conducted experiments show that this class of egg is 
fifty per cent more resistant to unfavorable environmental conditions than 
the fertile egg. Egg men in Philadelphia and every other city in the 
United States should take as their slogan the production of infertile eggs. 
Advocate the elimination of the male birds as soon as the hatching season 
is over and, presto! the desired result is obtained. At first thought it 
appears too simple and absurd to be worthy of serious consideration, but 
I am willing to go on record with the statement that if we can induce the 
farmer to produce infertile eggs, and leave out all other considerations as 
to the improvement of general conditions, the present $45,000,000 loss 
will be cut in half. 

In closing I leave the following suggestions for your consideration. 

See to it that storage eggs are sold as storage eggs. 

Encourage the inculcation of better methods of production on the 
farm. 

Demand that the loss-off or quality system of buying replace the 
present absurd case-count system. 

Advocate through whatever channels may be available the produc- 
tion of infertile eggs. 

There are many other problems connected with this vast egg indus- 
try, but those touched upon will, I think, provide sufficient work for 
some time to come. 

Mr. Herbert P. Brown: Last spring cold-storage men had eggs 
that were worth only twenty cents right from the farmer. 

Mr. Opperman: Yes, I think eggs were only twenty cents, but the 
great trouble is they do not come to the cold-storage men in the right 
condition. If they had been sent there direct, I think they would have 
come out of cold storage just as fine and just as fresh as the day they 
went in there. Cold storage is a great blessing to humanity, to agricul- 



59 

ture and to humanity, too. Without cold storage we could not buy eggs 
for a dollar a dozen. We could not do without cold-storage facilities. 

Mrs. Smith: We will now be accused of taking sides with the cold- 
storage people or with holding stock in the cold-storage houses. What 
we want to do is to get all the information that we can possibly get and 
to have a square deal for the farmer and a square deal for the consumer. 
We want to get intelligent light thrown on all these questions, and that 
is why we are having this conference. I am a farmer myself, and any- 
thing about a farm that a farmer's wife has done I believe I have done, 
and anything that a man has to do about a farm, my husband has done, 
but nevertheless we have to acknowledge that these charges against the 
farmer are more or less true. I had a very good farmer's wife on our 
place last summer and she and I were particularly partners on the chicken 
question. She came from New York State and she had been under the 
impression, as Mr. Benjamin mentioned to us, that just any egg was a 
good egg. On this day in question she brought a basket of eggs and said, 
"Isn't that splendid; twenty eggs." I said, "Yes, where did you find 
them?" She said, "Back of the pig pen, and I know they are all per- 
fectly good." I said, "Very well, if they are perfectly good, we will 
have them for supper." I can only tell you they were unspeakable. 
That is what happened. The location of the egg basket in the farm 
kitchen is another item. These are some of the many points that we have 
got to have information upon. That is what we are here for. Are there 
any questions .desired to be asked? I will ask those who are present at 
this afternoon's meeting to be present tonight, and we can talk to these 
gentlemen this evening when we meet. 

Prof. C. L. King, of the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 
has a very valuable contribution to make to us on "City-Country Unity 
Through Market Bureaus." I take pleasure in introducing Prof. King. 



CITY-COUNTRY UNITY THROUGH MARKET BUREAUS. 



Dr. Clyde Lyndon King, 

Political Science, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. 



I. Marketing — Its Significance to Farmer and Consumer. 

• The cost of living agitation has turned the active minds of many 
men in all parts of the country and in all trades and occupations to a 
scrutiny of our existing producing and distributing systems, -with a view 
to finding out what programme may be adopted for the permanent lower- 
ing of living costs. These numerous inquiries and studies have clearly 
estabhshed the following general facts as to food products: 

1. Production costs will increase. 

2. Lower living costs, or even present price levels, are to be main- 
tained if at all only through lowering distribution costs. 

Numerous potent factors are making and bid fair to continue to make 
for increased production costs. The first of these is the fact that popula- 
tion has increased more rapidly than the available food supply. While 
the population of the United States increased practically thirty millions 
from 1890 to 1910, the number of cattle in the United States decreased 
four milKons. Such facts as these as to the ratio which the increase in 
population bears to the food supply meet one at every turn. Moreover, 
there has been a most significant increase in land values. In the last 
decade timber lands in the United States have trebled in value, farm 
lands have doubled in value, and city lands have increased from 20 to 
200 per cent. And there is every indication that farm and urban land 
values will continue to rise; they certainly will so long as they are 
capitahzed, as at present, not only at their productive value, but at their 
possible earning value in future years when population will be greater 
and food demands heavier. An increase of 300 per cent in the supply 
of gold from 1890 to 1910 together with an equal increase in the amount 
of credit has without doubt caused a lowering in the purchasing power of 
the dollar. This is not the only factor in higher costs, as some would 
have us think, but it is one of the factors. And as there is no indication 
of a change in either gold supply or credit supply, this force also joins in 
boosting prices. There has likewise been an increase in the cost of raw 
materials and in labor costs. 

All of these factors seem to show that without a doubt production 
costs will increase. This does not mean, to be sure, that nothing should 
be done to prevent an undue enhancement of production costs, but it 

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61 

does mean that every urban community especially will have to meet a 
very grave crisis unless food costs can at least be kept at existing levels. 
The avenue through which this can be done, it appears, is in simplify- 
ing and in making more economic and efficient the marketing of food 
products. 

At the present time the consumer pays over two dollars for the same 
produce for which the farmer receives one dollar. In other words, it costs 
much more to get our food products from the farmer's gate to the con- 
sumer's table than it does to produce them. Such are the facts that have 
been given winged pubhcity throughout the past year. The result of the 
dissemination of information of this character is that certain definite 
steps are being taken and certain demands are being made by farmer and 
consumer, transportation and business interests alike, for lowering dis- 
tribution costs. Let us see what these activities are. 

II. What Are the Farmers Doing? 

The activities of the farmers may be grouped in three classes: (1) 
their attempts to sell directly through municipal markets, hampers and 
similar methods; (2) the organization of producers' co-operative societies, 
and (3) careful scientific studies, assisted by experts, to determine exactly 
what can be done to return to the farmer a greater proportion of the price 
paid for food by consumers. 

The farmers' attempts to sell directly have led to a demand for open 
air, curbstone, water-front and terminal wholesale markets. Hon. Cyrus 
C. Miller, of New York, has done much to show the need and value of a 
wholesale terminal market which will allow not only direct sales by farm- 
ers but also sales to retailers at minimum costs. European cities have 
long made use of this method, and by keeping in each of their wholesale 
markets a bonded city-appointed agent who sells at auction any goods 
consigned to him, have not only reduced distribution costs but also given 
facilities for the preservation of foods and for quick and inexpensive sales 
of produce from all countries of the earth. Municipal markets have 
recently been adopted in many cities throughout the United States, and 
in certain cities where municipal markets already exist, there is a growing 
demand for additional ones. The hamper method of sales has, within the 
last year, received a great deal of careful attention, and, combined with 
the parcel post, promises results of significant though limited character. 

The formation of producers' co-operative associations is deeply sig- 
nificant because it is essential to minimizing and simplifying distribution 
costs. A prime essential to any trade is that the goods be rehably sorted, 
properly packed in a way fitted to the trade, and honestly branded and 
marked. When these three things are performed, the risk that must 
now be assumed by the wholesaler, jobber and country buyer can largely 
be eliminated^a risk that has necessarily been expressed in higher prices 
for consumers. Producers' co-operation not only accomplishes these ends 



62 

but also brings better returns to producers through better business man- 
agement; ehminates waste and decay by better preservation and more 
direct shipments; assures economies in_ marketing and promises better 
and fresher goods to consumers at prices shaved of unnecessary costs. 

Because producers' co-operation does these things, the State of 
Wisconsin has made it the main duty of its state market bureau to aid 
the organization of farmers' co-operative societies, and show the farmers 
how most economically and effectively to sort, pack, grade and market 
their goods. In May of this year an Office of Markets was estabhshed 
under the national Department of Agriculture to perform a similar ser- 
vice. The work of this newly estabUshed office, in the words of its chief, 
Mr. Charles J. Brand, "will include a study of existing marketing 
organizations and compilation of laws, state and national, affecting 
organized production and distribution, and the promotion of new market- 
ing organizations and consumers' leagues, in so far as these activities may 
be carried on within the authority of the department," with a view to 
establishing direct dealings with organized producers and to extending 
more direct sales from producer to consumer. 

The third activity of farmers is of special significance. It is the 
creation of county farm bureaus with the co-operation of agricultural 
colleges, and the United States and state departments of agriculture. 
These farm bureaus will not only make a study of the different systems of 
farming, live stock problems, the needs of the soil and farm management 
problems, but they will also keep general information bureaus and try 
to co-operate harmoniously with farmers, with producers' societies and 
with all the agricultural agencies in the county, to further marketing and 
the direct sale of farm products. This is most significant indeed as it 
promises that the farmer is going to solve his market problem by securing 
reliable data and by going about it in a thoroughgoing systematic manner. 

III. What Are Business Interests Doing? 
Transportation carriers especially have long since recognized the 
poignant value of having market bureaus that will assist the farmer in 
finding a market for his goods and in teaching him how best to prepare 
his goods for sale. The Pennsylvania and Long Island Railroads are 
among the railroads that have had virile market and experimental 
bureaus that have done yeoman service in marketing. The Lehigh Valley 
Transit Company has also done a work of inestimable service through its 
marketing system. Wells, Fargo & Company has recently created an 
Order, Commission and Food Products Department, the aim of which 
will be to study the food products problem from various viewpoints, and 
to encourage and assist growers and producers by aiding them in finding 
suitable markets among dealers and consumers, and in securing, at mini- 
mum cost, suitable sanitary packages or containers in which to ship. 
"It is the intention of the department," says its organizer, "to gather 



63 

information that will enable the producer, the distributor, the consumer 
and the carrier to keep more closely in touch with each other, to the very 
material benefit of all." 

To be sure, those bureaus have been organized primarily for the 
purpose of furthering the business interests of the concerns affected. In 
furthering their business interests, however, they have also furthered 
without doubt the prosperity of the farmer, the business interests of the 
city, and remotely, no doubt, the interests of the consumer as well. 

IV. What is the Consumer Doing? 

But what is the consumer doing, he who pays half his income for 
food? We certainly would expect him to be alert as to exactly the 
channels through which his food products are reaching him. 

Quite to the contrary, he has done practically nothing. He is not 
even thinking, he is just wondering — wondering because he does not 
have the data with which to think. 

Some consumers, to be sure, have voiced their demands through 
Housewives' Leagues, which have done much to give needed publicity as 
to certain ills in the food distribution world, to certain abuses by retailers, 
to certain types of misrepresentation, to needless costs to consumers 
through underweights and false measures. Other consumers have united 
in blindly groping for some kind of curative legislation that they hope 
will cure all the ills to which they have been subjected, though ofttimes, 
through this very legislation, their ills have been increased rather than 
diminished. 

I have said that the consumer was doing practically nothing. But 
there is one thing he is doing. He is making up his mind that something 
must be done and that he is going to see that something is done. And 
that something will be done, no one can doubt. That it will be wisely 
done is utterly unthinkable, unless by sheerest luck, for the consumer 
does not have at hand the information essential for wise action. 

V. What is the City Doing? 

In the nineteenth century urban prosperity was linked closely with 
the growth in land values and the returns that came from exploiting the 
virgin soil. This source of wealth has passed away. The city must now 
rely upon the productive power of its average citizen. That productive 
power depends primarily upon how and at what cost that citizenary is 
fed. One would naturally think, therefore, that the city would certainly 
have been busied in formulating methods whereby food prices might be 
kept at a minunum. 

But such is far from the case. Philadelphia is spending $100,000 a 
year — and more is being spent in other cities — in studying the needs for 
a facile transit system that will get the wage-earner to his work; she is 
paying one market clerk $1,000 a year in order to solve the problem as 



64 

to what that worker can get with his money when he earns it. In other 
words, we are one hundred times more interested in getting the laborer 
to his work than we are in the purchasing power of his wage. The city 
must now choose between fortune building and citizen building. 

VI. The Situation in the Cities. 

The New York Market Commission found that practically 60 per 
cent was added to the cost of food products from the time it landed in the 
New York City Terminal until the time it got to the New York consumer. 
In other words, the greater part of food distribution costs occur within 
the city's limits. We have talked much about the need of scientific 
management on the farm; it is time now to talk about scientific manage- 
ment in the city. The city is the place where there is the greatest waste 
and inefficiency in marketing food products. 

What are some of the elements in this waste and inefficiency? To 
enumerate all of the elements in this waste and inefficiency would far 
exceed the possible limits of this paper. In the first place there has been 
no proper co-ordination between water terminals and land terminals. 
At least 5,000 vehicles in Philadelphia are used for haulage and cartage 
purposes. At five dollars a day for 300 days in the year, this totals an 
expenditure of $7,500,000 annually. Would a better situation of terminals 
and a proper co-ordination of terminal facilities do away with many of 
these needless costs? Chicago is just now studying anew its terminal 
question. What of our water fronts? Herbert Knox Smith, Commis- 
sioner of Corporations, in a special three-volume report on "Water Trans- 
portation," has said: "Water-front warehouse space is inadequate, except 
at a few important ports. Modern trans-shipping machinery, except for 
bulk freight, is almost entirely lacking." Terminal facilities, though as 
important as channels, have been neglected; our harbors are not properly 
organized or controlled; railroads largely control water terminals often to 
the disadvantage of general water traffic; there is almost no linking up 
of the rail and general water systems at the water's edge, but rather the 
opposite tendency; there is little co-operation by localities with the 
Federal Government which improves their channels. 

Do not these facts alone indicate that there is something very vital 
for the city to do? 

Our cities are not planned for minimum distribution costs. If they 
were (1) the main depots would be so located as to be efficiently related 
to rail and water lines; (2) steam and rail lines would be co-ordinated in 
ample terminal facifities in harbors efficiently organized, with adequate 
trucking facilities at every terminal; (3) like attention would be given to 
good through roads, to local water routes and to trolley lines and terminals 
that local freight might be sent to just the section of the city where it is 
wanted; (4) there would be a pubfic belt line railway co-ordinating trans- 
porting, manufacturing and distributing agencies; (5) the main centers 



65 

of diBtribution would be connected by conveniently located streets, paved 
with special reference to their traffic. It is primarily in the city that 
inefficiency and waste exist, inefficiency and waste that affect food costs, 
standards of living, citizenship. 

Then again the increase in transit facilities coupled with the growing 
demand for suburban homes and country residences has withdrawn from 
farming to speculative purposes countless acres near urban centers. Thus 
the farming country has been beaten back farther and farther from the 
city's gates, to the end that the farmer's marketing problem has become 
increasingly more complex. To bridge this chasm and to link city and 
farm as they were once linked require alert, constructive activity by the 
city, activity of just the kind a market bureau can render. 

The problem of efficient marketing is essentially a city problem and 
the city has left it to take care of itself. 

VII. What Can a City Market Bureau Do? 

There are primarily two points of view to be considered in getting 
at lower food costs through economic and efficient distribution. One of 
these is the point of view of the farmer; the other is the point of view of 
the consumer. A city market bureau can very definitely further the 
interests of both and thus administer to the needs of nine out of every ten 
of our population. 

When the farmer in the country or the county agent himself comes to 
study the marketing problem, he finds that he is practically helpless on 
account of distance from the city. None of his own questions can he 
answer; none of his measures can be effectively adopted from without the 
city. European countries and cities have thought it wise to make it 
possible for the farmer to get public moneys in order to buy lands, and 
have lent financial assistance to farmers' co-operative societies and 
individual farmers as well. The American city, quite in contrast to these 
methods, can effectively help the farmer not only in marketing his output, 
but also in adapting, sorting, standardizing and packing that output to 
suit the city trade. 

The question as to what a municipal market bureau can do can be 
answered in large part by reference to the author's own letter files. One 
farmer writes that he would like to market butter by parcel post, and 
wants assistance for finding consumers in Philadelphia. Another would 
like to find a good pubhc market stall where he can sell his goods. 
Another would like to be recommended to a rehable wholesale jobber. 
Still another feels he can by the hamper method get in direct touch with 
many consumers if he can get a list of city dwellers who might care to 
consider the hamper method. Another writes that his freight rates are 
exorbitant and unfair. Still another holds that the freighting facilities 
offered at his station are wholly inadequate. Another finds need for the 
completion of a certain street within the city in order to have a thorough- 



66 

fare from city to country. One farmers' co-operative association asks 
whether or not facilities could be made so that one of their boats could 
leave the New Jersey shore and find ample marketing facilities in Phila- 
delphia. Many others have questions as to their output and marketing 
methods. 

These are but examples of the kind of practical service a municipal 
market bureau can render. Here is a work which a city farm bureau, 
and a city farm bureau only, with thoroughgoing . information, could 
properly and adequately handle. Without such co-operation, the county 
agents, producers' co-operative societies, farmers themselves will be 
relatively helpless after all when it comes to finding newer and better 
marketing channels. 

Mr. R. B. Dunlap, County Agriculturist, with offices at Altoona, Pa., 
speaking of the value of such a bureau in rendering assistance to farmers 
says: 

"Of course we are taking for granted that it would be 'competently 
manned;' to the County Agent it would mean that his time and efforts 
could be devoted more largely to the production end, because if a market 
bureau were to be of any value, it would have for one of its main pur- 
poses the standardizing of all products shipped from the farm for con- 
sumption in the cities. 

"We are greatly in need of such a work. There are so many stand- 
ards, so many varieties of ideas in regard to first, second and third classes 
of products that producers feel as though they have the right to ask first- 
class prices. On the other hand, the retailers and consumers, in this 
city at least, are not demanding graded articles. First, second and cull 
apples may be found in the same lot. Eggs and butter are not graded, 
although good butter is receiving the premium. 

"This state of affairs perhaps comes, in this section, from the way in 
which most of the country produce comes to market, mainlj^ through 
hucksters. From these general statements I think we can see some of 
the big things a marketing bureau might do." 

The consumer likewise has no means of knowing what the farmers 
are doing and what the farmers would hke to do. No retail bulletins are 
issued in this country as in European countries stating to farmers what 
retail prices are. Farmers near Philadelphia have not the shghtest notion 
as to what Philadelphia consumers are paying for their produce, nor do 
Philadelphia consumers have the slightest notion as to what farmers are 
receiving for their goods. This intelligence is essential to wise co-opera- 
tion between farmer and consumer. 

Such a market bureau could stimulate the formation of market 
bureaus in outlying counties, could render distinct assistance in regard to 
the sorting and packing of goods so as to fit them to the particular needs 
of the city's own market. In this way selling at home could be furthered. 



67 

Where we are adding one to our rural population, we are adding three 
to our city population, and this city population is spreading rapidly in all 
our states. By furthering selling at home, therefore, national forces will 
be put to work that will bring sooner or later a shorter route from 
producer to consumer. 

VIII. Stable Business through Stable Costs. 

In the last fifteen years the retail prices of the fifteen main food 
articles for which the average workingman's family spends two-thirds of 
its income increased 57 per cent. During this time agricultural wages 
have increased not over one-third, railroad wages perhaps one-fourth, 
wages in the manufacturing industry from one-fifth to one-fourth. In 
other words, the purchasing wage of the laborer is rapidly decreasing. 
If the money wage continue to increase from one-fifth to one-third, while 
food costs increase from two-fifths to two-thirds, does it take a mathemati- 
cian to tell that the American laborer will soon be on the poverty line? 

This situation has ominous meaning to every business man in the city 
especially. Just so long as this situation exists there must be a discon- 
tent — a discontent justified by facts. The discontent, as all observers 
know, is already to the breaking point. While it exists business stability 
is simply unthinkable. 

And yet the business man seems indifferent to a programme for 
lowering living costs. Were it not so tragic, if written to music this 
indifference would make good comic opera. Only through lower or at 
least stable living costs can there possibly be business stability or urban 
prosperity. In such a situation the worst radical is the one who urges 
that nothing be done lest it "disturb business." In such a situation only 
the one who does something is the conservative. 

Is it not worth the business man's while to support staunchly a 
movement that will make possible urban welfare and country welfare? 
That will make possible the increasing of purchasing power in the country 
round about? That will unquestionably have its effect on living costs 
and the wage-earner within the city? 

The establishment of a virile, competently manned city market 
bureau is a good first step in such a movement. 

Mr. Felix Albright: We hear a lot about the high cost of fiving. 
Why, those men don't know anything about the high cost of living. These 
old white-haired men who took part in the Civil War know that wheat 
sold for $3.40 a bushel; corn $1.60; rye $1.50; poultry about twenty 
dollars a hundred; sugar twenty-five cents a pound, and all the rest. 
Now, today, we have wheat at ninety cents. The great trouble is, they 
talk about educating the farmer. The farmer knows more than the city 
man does. The city people don't know how to pick out an apple. They 
can't pick out an apple to eat. 



68 

Mrs. Smith: They pick out a Ben Davis every time? 

Mr. Albright: Yes. Now, the city people can learn something. 
If they are willing to come out to the country we will educate them. We 
hear a lot from these city men about farming. If they would come to us, 
they would know something. I know a man who bought a farm, over two 
hundred acres, and I was near enough to recommend a first class man to 
him to manage it. No, he didn't want that; he came over here and 
employed a scientific farmer, graduate of a. college, to manage it. He 
managed it three years, and it cost that man fourteen thousand dollars 
over what he produced, and he quit in disgust. I live in the sand-hills of 
New Jersey — • 

Mrs. Smith: Have you got any boys? 

Mr. Albright: I have four of them, all farmers. I have had some 
experience with graduates from agricultural colleges. One of them spent 
half his time studying and he never amounted to anything. It was not 
in him. The Board of Health in Philadelphia and New York require milk 
to be delivered at a temperature of fifty, instead of sixty. Dr. Neff, in 
his every-day bulletin, says we have killed so many babies by shipping 
hot milk here, simply because the temperature was sixty, instead of fifty, 
but friends, the rest of your lives read the North American. If anyone 
reads the North American, he is all right. They said last spring about 
having milk come in refrigerator cars, which costs the farmer three cents 
extra for refrigerating, and Dr. Neff stated that there was such a high rate 
of mortality among children in June, 1913, I made up my mind that these 
babies must have been killed by having milk come in too cold. Now, that 
North American editorial comes next to the Bible with me. Now, we hear 
a lot about saving babies. I heard there were three hundred had died and 
yet they insist upon cold milk coming in. How are you going to save them? 
Cold milk won't save them. One of our members of Congress wants to 
have a law passed that we must not kill our cattle under two years. What 
are you going to do for veal? I think the people want education, and if 
they will stay with us farmers a while, we will educate them. Then talking 
about eggs; we have people come over to Jersey and buy up these sand 
lots and only stay a month or two. One party came and bought a big 
piece of land, and out of five hundred eggs they got eighteen chickens. 
We had seven hundred eggs, and were going to raise broilers, and I was 
going to supply hotels, and we only had one chicken which represented 
seven hundred eggs. I tell you it is worth a good deal to be a farmer, and 
there is nothing as green in the world as a city boy in the country. I think 
I have said enough. 

Mrs. Smith: I would Hke to hear from others. 

Mr. Douglas: I am a city man born on a farm. I have brought 
eggs down to a wholesale commission dealer in eggs in Philadelphia, who 



69 

candled them, and evidently the candler knew his business, for he said 
they were extra eggs, were laid yesterday. That was true and he showed 
his skill, but he would not take them. He said he didn't want them; 
they were too good. I went to another commission man and he said he 
would be glad to have my eggs, but he would only allow me five cents less 
than the market price quoted in the papers. The result is, I don't know 
what to do with my eggs, except to eat them myself. Then I went to 
another place, a fancy grocer, and I gave him a commission of five cents 
a dozen for all the eggs he sold, to be guaranteed on my part that they were 
delivered to him within thirty-six hours of the time they were laid, and he 
sold a few cases, but he said his customers really did not care for that kind 
of egg. 

Mk. F. R. Stevens: I simply think that I ought to say, with all 
respect to our friend from the sand-hills of Jersey, that I have met in my 
years experience a great many farmers who take the same view of life that 
our friend does. I am willing to admit to him that a city man with only 
city training is as much out of place on a farm as a man is from the country 
who had never gone off his farm before and was suddenly called to a bank 
or clothing store or something like that. Both are absolutely out of place. 

Now, we have progressed along lines of scientific training and original 
work. We know more of scientific training through schools of agriculture, 
and land is getting better tilled since. I have during the seven or eight 
years I have been in extension work made it a fundamental principle 
never, when I met a farmer, give him any kind of advice, unless he first 
came to me and asked me for my advice. Men typical of our friend from 
the sand-hills of Jersey have asked for the assistance of the agricultural 
department of our railroad and the agricultural department of the state 
and the Federal Government and other experimental and extension stations. 
Men have applied to me for assistance from among our present practical 
prosperous farmers, along our lines, and in the country. These men realize, 
as our friend has said, that there is a great deal that is practical, but they 
also realize that there is as much to be gained from a knowledge of the 
scientific end of it as anything else. I saw one man being told certain 
things to do by a man who is a graduate from an agricultural college. I 
said to him, ''Why, that fellow is telling you things that would take you 
fifty years to learn." We have met with the experience of that gentleman 
and others of his type, in that it takes them fifty years to learn how to do 
a thing, but that is not the sort of a graduate agricultural colleges are send- 
ing out today. The colleges could not do without you, and yet they are 
going to assist you. 

Mr. Eavenson : There is one thing I can't understand, and possibly 
some of you gentlemen can explain it to me, and that is: Why the rail- 
roads charge for refrigeration eight months of the year and only give 
four? The only reason I have heard advanced is that it averages the cost. 



70 

The farmer should ask the consumer to pay for that, and it is no more 
than right that the consumer should pay for the refrigeration when they 
insist upon having cold milk. 

Mr. Stevens : That may be due to local conditions. The line which 
I represent does not ship milk to Philadelphia. We do ship milk to New 
York. We start a train from Geneva which carries milk into the City of 
New York. The cars are arranged for refrigeration, and it is a special 
train, used for nothing else, and the charge from Geneva to New York, 
about 350 miles, and taking the empty cans back, and refrigeration all 
the way, is seven-tenths of one cent per quart. 

Me. Eavenson : That is charged for the whole year? 

Mr. Stevens : The whole year. 

Mr. Eavenson: We are charged eight months. 

Mr. Stevens : At present we are icing the cars, and you must remem- 
ber that you have ice eight months of the year, and that milk is brought out 
at three cents a quart in Geneva and delivered at New York at seven- 
tenths of a cent, which makes the cost in New York three and seven- 
tenths cents a quart, and it sells for nine. That is where to find the leak. 
The leak is somewhere between three and seven-tenths cents and nine 
cents. 

Mrs. Smith: If there are no further questions the meeting is ad- 
journed. 



Thursday Evening, December 4th, 8 o'Clock. 
Council Chamber, City Hall. 



Honorary Chairman, Charles S. Calwell, Esquire, President, Corn 
Exchange National Bank, Philadelphia. 

Mrs. Smith: We have a long programme before us and a very interest- 
ing one. Mr. Benjamin did not use his lantern this afternoon. He is going 
to run over briefly some of the slides that he has brought with him, which 
I am sure will prove very instructive. Then we are going to have the milk 
question and I hope we will have a very interesting meeting and that 
everybody will say anything that is in their minds. Being a farmer myself, 
I have a great weakness for the Egg Association at Cornell, because I 
cannot raise more than about fifty chickens. I would like somebody to 
come in my neighborhood and show me how to handle the situation, the 
output; get it to the markets, and all that sort of thing. 

Mr. Benjamin: This afternoon I talked on the subject of "Marketing 
Eggs" and dwelt to quite an extent with the co-operative association which 
was started at the Cornell University among the farmers. This evening I 
have a few slides dealing with this co-operative organization on general 
marketing principles. If there are any questions I shall be glad to have you 
bring them up within the limited time that I have. The organization which 
we have at Ithaca, while it is purely local, we are organizing it with the 
idea of its being adaptable to other parts of the state. The organization is 
simply an organization among producers and is designed for the inter- 
change of ideas, and deals with conditions where we have small farms, with 
very small flocks, in most cases 35 to 50 hens on a farm. We have some 
farmers who specialize with 75 to 1,000 or 2,000 hens, but what we have to 
do is to help the small farmers with 25 or 50 hens, help them in getting the 
eggs together and getting them to the consumers either through the whole- 
sale dealers or direct to the consumer. We have various dealers: the 
country huckster, the country store and the small city jobber. Most of 
those are superfluous and should not be needed. 

[Mr. Benjamin at this point used his lantern slides in a practical 
demonstration of the work of the association at Cornell.] 

D. H. Steffans, Baltimore: I would like to ask a question. This 
afternoon you said that, as compared with six independent dealers in a 
certain field competing for the eggs of the farmers, there was a tendency 
to co-operate because of the lack of efficiency. Is that correct? 

(71) 



72 

Mr. Benjamin: Yes, sir, 

Mr. Steffans : Mr. Opperman said that this lack of efficiency under 
the present methods cost us for eggs about $45,000,000 a year. I so 
understood him. I can't understand why, in a co-operation of farmers 
to deliver their eggs to one point, there should be any lack of efficiency, 
providing they use part of their profits to pay the manager and secure 
efficient management in that way. How should there in that case be a 
lack of efficiency? 

Mr. Benjamin: The manager's salary depends on the profit which 
is made. 

Mr. Steffans : Or give him a share of the profits as salary. 

Mr. Benjamin: Yes, that would be a very good way of overcoming 
that to some extent. What I meant to bring out was that when we hire 
a man to do a job, he is not going to be as vitally interested as though 
he had got to do that to get a living, but if his salary depends on the 
profits that he makes in the business, his efficiency is going to increase. 

Mr. Steffans: But the situation at present is this: Your six inde- 
pendent dealers purchasing from the farmers inevitably form a combine 
to fix the prices. The farmers form a small combine and do business 
through one agency. You put six dealers into a field and they inevitably 
will combine to fix prices and grades. 

Mr. Benjamin: I do not know of any such combination in our 
particular locality, although that perhaps exists. Perhaps there is no 
actual combination, but possibly there is an understanding. There may 
be something like that, although I do not know of any regular agreement. 
Of course, we have lack of efficiency due to duplication work, when we 
have several competing firms. There are six people doing the work which 
one organization might do, yet perhaps each one of them is working 
harder than one manager would, but one manager might be more efficient 
in the end. 

Mrs. Smith: We will now hear from Dr. WilUams. Dr. WiUiams 
is a member of the Rochester Chamber of Commerce. He has made a 
very close study of the economics of milk. 



THE ECONOMICS OF THE MILK QUESTION. 



By John R. Williams, M.D., 

Secretary, Milk Commission, Rochester, N. Y. 



For twenty-five years or more cities have been struggling to get pure 
milk and thus far few have succeeded. Why have they failed? The 
answer to this important question is the theme of this discussion. Since 
the very beginning of community life to the present day, the business 
of producing and marketing milk, with few exceptions, has been in the 
hands of a large number of men, each carrying on his share of the industry 
in his own way, duplicating in every detail all the labor and equipment 
of his fellow workers, with no thought of co-operation or co-ordination 
of effort, paying little heed to the laws of economy and efficiency and 
frequently subordinating the needs of the community to his own gain. 

For years the community has been oblivious, utterly unmindful of 
the treatment it has been accorded. It has left the solution of its health 
problems, particularly the milk question, to a few sanitarians and the 
sanitarians have thus far failed to solve it. The ever-increasing cost of 
living and the frequently reported epidemics of disease and deaths due 
to bad milk are rousing the consumer from his lethargy so that today the 
doctor is being pushed to one side of the stage, the mother, the business 
man, the professional man, the mechanic, indeed the whole community 
are coming on the platform. They are demanding to know what is the 
matter. Hence this conference of diversified interests and the many 
similar conventions which are being held throughout this country. The 
failure of the individual to meet fairly and adequately the needs of the 
community, more than any other reason, is responsible for the rise of 
socialism and similar political philosophy. Hence if we, as individuals, 
wish to preserve our identities as such, if we wish to continue the milk 
industry as a private enterprise, we must get our ears to the ground, 
we must accept the challenge of the community, we must solve the milk 
problem. 

What is the milk problem of the community? Briefly, it is securing 
an abundant supply of pure milk at a reasonably low cost. It is not 
enough to secure pure milk; it must be so low in cost to the consumer 
that it may be plentifully available in every home. The water problem 
of the city is not solved when the rich drink the bottled waters of the 
distant springs while the less fortunate are compelled to use the con- 
taminated waters of the community. No more is the* milk problem solved 
when certified milk is made available for the well-to-do, while the poor 

(73) 



74 

must use questionable market milk. Milk must not only be pure but 
it must be within reach of the man in average circumstances. The milk 
problem, therefore, has economic as well as sanitary importance. Indeed, 
since I have been studying the question, I have come to believe that it is 
mainly an economic question. 

For years we have been wrestling with the problem in Rochester 
as you have in Philadelphia. We had always looked at the problem from 
the standpoint of bacteria and infant mortality and we made little head- 
way. A year or so ago we began to view it as a business proposition; 
and because of our failures along sanitary lines, we made an economic 
survey of the entire dairy industry as it affected our city, and this is what 
we found. We discovered that upwards of 800 farmers were producing 
milk for our city, many of whom were shipping milk to you also, so that 
we have a mutual interest in this investigation. Most of these men are 
dissatisfied with the business. In a study of western and central New 
York we found that a large number of farmers had given up wholly or 
partly the milk business. Of 674 farms offered for sale, 439 were dairy 
farms. We found the farmers complaining of scarcity of labor, and as a 
result they were not cultivating their tillable land. We found them buy- 
ing expensive cattle feeds instead of raising them. We found them breed- 
ing low-grade stock, using scrub bulls which never should have been 
permitted to live. We found them taking no pains to keep disease, par- 
ticularly the dreadful tuberculosis, out of their herds. We found them 
each one drawing a few cans of milk down the same road to the little 
railroad stations for shipment to the city. We found many other wastes 
and duplication of effort. 

Why were these farmers doing these things in such a poor and un- 
satisfactory way? The answer invariably was that the business from 
their point of view was not sufficiently profitable to make it worth while 
for them to do it in any other way and that they could not do otherwise 
than subordinate dairying to their other farm work. The results of our 
investigation gave support to these contentions. 

At the present time the producer does not receive for his product 
a due proportion of the revenue paid by the ultimate consumer. At 
least this would appear to be the case when his risk, investment and 
labor are contrasted with that of the distributor in the city who takes 
for his services one-half of the proceeds derived from the sale of the milk. 
The average yearly price paid the producer for milk is four cents per 
quart; the average retail price received by the distributor is eight cents 
per quart. The average investment required for operating a dairy farm 
in western New York, producing 160 quarts of milk daily, is $9,000. One 
dealer in the city can easily deliver the milk of three such farms. His 
total investment rarely exceeds $2,500. Thus, three farmers in the 
country with an average investment of $27,000 receive no more for their 
product than does one distributor in the city with not more than one- 



75 

tenth the investment. Furthermore, the risks and labor of the farmer 
are correspondingly greater. 

There are some points about dairying, however, which the producer 
cannot afford to overlook. The milk business is an all-year-round occupa- 
tion for him. It keeps his labor constantly employed. It is a continuous 
source of income; and when properly conducted, it adds to the produc- 
tivity of his farm. If milk producers, instead of acting as a large number 
of individual competitive units, each duplicating the labor and equip- 
ment of his neighbor, were to co-operate and co-ordinate their efforts, 
they could lessen both the cost of milk production and make it more 
profitable. 

This can be done and, to a limited extent, is being done by the forma- 
tion of cow-testing associations, co-operative associations for buying 
feed, bedding and by the breeding of high-grade stock. Another material 
saving could be made by establishing co-operative milk receiving stations 
at convenient railroad points where milk could be received, tested and 
paid for on the basis of quality and purity, where cans and pails could 
be sterilized, thus doing away with expensive equipment of the farm, 
and by the collection of milk on one or two trucks instead of each pro- 
ducer hauling his fraction of a load to the railroad. In short, the producer 
must study the economics of his business, he must check the waste and 
the losses before the community will listen sympathetically to his plea 
for more remuneration. 

In the city we find the business of distributing milk in the hands of 
a large number of small dealers. There is a different dealer for every 
200 families and a different milk wagon, horse and driver for every 125 
famines. If milk were economically distributed, one horse, wagon and 
driver should be able to supply at least 400 families. On most of our 
city streets we have a different milk company for every two to ten homes. 
In many cases several milk men will be found supplying one home. In 
one small home we discovered that nine peddlers were each leaving one 
pint daily. 

This overlapping in routes means a tremendous waste in labor and 
equipment. By actual computation we determined that the total travel 
of these dealers is from ten to twenty times further than it would need 
be were a single dealer to supply a given section in an economical manner. 
The same wasteful method of delivery is employed in most of the cities 
of the United States, as was determined by the writer in a recent investi- 
gation of this subject. In the few very large cities of this country where 
great milk companies are to be found, this waste is not so evident, but 
in the smaller cities and towns it is quite common. (See Tables I and II.) 

The waste in milk distribution is by no means confined to street 
equipment. Each of these small dealers operates a small milk room or 
depot in which will be found the apparatus necessary for the bottling 
and storing of milk. As a rule, these milk rooms are located in one section 



76 

of the barn or in a wing attached to the family dwelHng. The apparatus 
is usually of the crudest character, and yet in the aggregate it represents 
an investment far in excess of what would be needed to equip a sufficient 
number of model sanitary plants were the business of distribution cen- 
tralized. It is scarcely necessary to refer to the unsanitary character 
and unfitness of the majority of these milk depots. For most of the 
small dealers the margin of profit is so slender and the risks and losses 
so great that it may be said to be a most precarious business. (See 
Table III.) 

When a milk business is unprofitable there is a great temptation on 
the part of the dealer to repair his losses by adulterating his milk, 
abstracting cream from it, selling left-over milk as the fresh article, steal- 
ing bottles and so on. Milk dealers, as everyone knows, sometimes yield 
to these temptations, and they should, not be too severely censured there- 
for because they are the victims of a badly organized industry. 

The loss from the present uneconomical and wasteful method of 
milk chstribution in the majority of American cities is very great. It is 
safe to say that in Rochester it amounts to at least half a million dollars 
yearlj^, which means that the consumer pays nearly two cents per quart 
more for his milk than he would need to were sensible methods employed. 
Were this great yearly loss to benefit even a few individuals in the com- 
munity, it might, in a measure, be condoned. However, except in the 
instance of the very large companies, the business has not proven to be 
very remunerative. 

It may be said that the present system of milk distribution has a 
three-fold evil effect on the municipal supply: 

It leaves the business of marketing milk in the hands of a lot of 
untrained men who have no idea of sanitation, no adequate sanitary 
equipment, all of which is directly reflected in the quality of the milk. 

It affords such a meager living to the majority of small dealers that 
it tends to make them dishonest and to employ unscrupulous methods in 
their business operations. 

It imposes an unnecessary tax on the whole community. 

If this extravagant method of delivery were to be supplanted by 
one in which a single efficient agency were to have control, it wOuld bring 
about three desired ends. 

It would make it possible for the consumer to get pure milk for at 
least one cent per quart less than he now pays for questionable milk. 

It would enable the farmer to get a half cent more per quart for his 
product, and this additional half cent to the farmer would make it worth 
while for him to rid his herd of tuberculosis and to do many things which 
are now neglected because of the scanty profits in milk production. 

It would make a profitable business for one distributing agency, 
besides giving it a dignity and standing in the community that would not 
be exceeded by any other public utility service. 



77 

The consumer has a responsibihty m the milk problem which should 
not be overlooked. Dairying is the only business which is not compen- 
sated on the basis of merit. Every other commodity in use is valued 
according to its quality. This is true of sugar, meat, fruit, vegetables 
and so on, but it is not true of milk. Practically all milk is sold on the 
same basis. The community does not distinguish in either price or 
patronage between the producer who makes clean milk, rich in butter 
fat, under sanitary conditions, and that of the farmer whose milk is of 
uncertain quality. Nevertheless the cost of milk production, like other 
commodities, varies according to the diligence of the operator and the 
care which he bestows on his work. 

A milk which contains five per cent of butter fat is much more 
nourishing than is one which contains only three per cent and is there- 
fore more valuable. At the present time the community makes no dis- 
tinctions on this basis and pays as much for a milk poor in cream as it 
does one which contains a high percentage. Certain types of dairy cattle 
produce large volumes of milk of a low fat percentage. Other types 
produce smaller quantities of milk -^dth higher fat percentage. Under 
the present method of buying and selling, the farmer is encouraged to 
propagate the first-mentioned tjqoe of cattle. The obvious conclusion 
from this is that milk should be bought and sold on the basis of its 
nutritive value and not according to its mere bulk. It may be said, 
therefore, that the community by its method of purchasing milk without 
reference to its food value, and \\'ithout discriminating between the 
different grades of milk, puts a premium on bad methods of farm manage- 
ment and inferior products. 

Those seriously interested in the milk industry and who have its wel- 
fare at heart can ill afford to much longer delay attacking these funda- 
mental evils. As before mentioned, if the individual interests cannot or 
"^-ill not make pm'e milk possible at a reasonable cost for all the commu- 
nity, then the community itself ■s\411 take it in hand. This would not be 
a revolutionary thing to do, for nearly every city in the United States at 
the present time is engaged in doing this very thing. Milk stations 
operated by the city for the benefit of the poor are now nearly as common 
as schools. The establishing of milk depots for the benefit of the whole 
community would not mean the adoption of a new form of govermnent, 
but rather a question of arithmetic; not one of abstract political philos- 
ophy^, but rather a matter of self-defense and simple numbers. I repeat, 
the question of pure milk is of vital pubhc concern. Those engaged in 
the industry should solve it ^ath the aid of the community. They can 
scarcely afford to do othermse. 

[From this pomt on. Dr. Williams illustrated his remarks by the use 
of the stereopticon.] 



78 



Table I. — Showing the Excessive and Unnecessary Traffic by the Present 
Milk Distributors in Rochester, N. Y. 



Sections of City Studied. 



Chiefly colored 

Americtin laboring 

American laboring 

Well-to-do 

German-American laboring . 

Well-to-do.. 

Italian laboring 

Jewish laboring 

German laboring 

American middle 

Well-to-do 

Well-to-do 

Well-to-do 

American laboring 

American laboring 



Number of 

Homes 
Supplied by 
Distributors. 



165 
432 
340 
273 
508 
120 
353 
363 
145 
443 
166 
91 
216 
167 
786 



Number of 
Distributors 
in Section. 



23 



40 
27 
39 
14 
51 
57 
39 
26 
25 
17 
34 
31 
62 



Miles One 

Distributor 

would Travel 

in Supplying 

Section. 



2 

3 

3 

2.6 

4.4 

1.2 

3 

1.7 

1.7 

2.4 

2.5 

2 

2.5 

1.7 

5.4 



Miles Present 

Distributor 

Travels in 

Supplying 

Section. 



20 
45 
30 
24 
61 
12 
36 
30 
20 
48 
21 
14 
38 
21 
57 



Table II. — Showing Amount of Milk Used, Number of Dealers and Milk 
Wagons Employed in Distribution in Various American Cities. 



City. 



Chicago 2,000,000 



Philadelphia 1,632,000 



Boston . 
Clev(!land . . . 
Baltimore . . . 

Buffalo 

Rochester. . . 
Syracuse .... 
Youngstown. 

Erie 

Harrisburg. . 



Population. 



735,000 
600,000 
570,000 
445,000 
225,000 
150,000 
100,000 
71,000 
67,000 



Milk Used 
Daily. 
Quarts. 



1,024,000 

500,000 

271,000 

100,000 

121,000 

140,000 

90,000 

42,000 

48,000 

25,000 

20,400 



Total 
Number 
Dealers. 



1,300 
450 
257 
441 
204 
200 
220 

78 
170 

59 
195 



Total 
Number 
Wagons. 



3,000 
1,500* 
641 
641 
487 
450 
360 
194 
185 
90 
195* 



Average 

Number 

Quarts 

per Wagon. 



270 
265 
230 
125 
195 
250 
200 
170 
210 
225 
85 



Average 

Number 

Families 

per Wagon. 



135 
215 
230 
185 
235 
200 
125 
155 
108 
160 
69 



Note. — The data for this table was supplied by the departments of health of the various cities. At 
least 20 per cent of the total milk supply of each city is used in wholesale trade or for manufacturing pur- 
poses. This allowance is made in computing domestic distribution. 

* Estimated. Data not obtainable. 



79 



Table III. — ^Shottdtg the Total Accottstisg of Milk Disteibt:t<;e.s in 

EOC-HE-STEH, GeOTTPED AcCOEDIXG TO THE VoLl3IE OF BuSIXESS Do^TB, 



Dtstributors Sef^ng, Daily — 



Schedules. 



s 
Hoi, Mate 
than 150 
Qaarts, 


FrcmlSl 
to 300 


FramaOl 
to 1,000 
Qoairts. 


fjz More, 


TotaL 


25 


101 


44 


3 


173 


2,887 
129 


21.368 
2^411 


17,180 
3,415 


8,900 

6;ooo 


50.335 


3,016 


23,799 


20,599 


14,900 


62,314 


29 

34 

26 

199 

1,885 


133 

160 

137 

1.053 

13;913 


99 
101 

92 

616 

9,490: 


95 

65 

50 

641 

9,800' 


356 

360 

305 

2,509 

35,090 



Distributors number 

Milk, retail quarts 

Milk^ wholesale quarts 

Total milk sold quarts 

Mai employed mimber 

Horses employed number 

Wagons employed number 

Lei^th of route miles 

Customers ninnber 



V^uemilkHroomequ^»m€nt $2,407 $17,295 $16,750 

Value horses and wagons 8,815 4»5,105 28,495 

Value real estate 



$38,450 $76,902 
25!035 107^450 
96;700 96,700 



Total investment $11,222 $62,400 $44,245 $160,185 $278,052 



Interest, depreciation on investment 

Cost of coal and ice 

Milk shrinkage, waste, etc 

Maint^iance horse and wagon 

Daily wages, labor f 

Cost of bottles 



Total cost distribution. 
Amount paid produca- 



$6.17 
8.92 
4.35 

25.30 
5.60 



$34.17 
42.25 
36.59 

152.50 
48.95 
77.36 



$25.16 
39.03 
28.55 

101.00 
74.20 

.74.89 



$^5.15 

17.20 

14,55 j 

100.00 

193.06 

21.00 



$110.65 
107.40 
M.04 
378.80 
321.81 
180.63 



:8.71 



$392.82 
r//:f.55 



ri42.83 
880.44 



$390.98 $1,184.35 
886.40 2.895.10 



Total cost to distributor $186.43 $1,392.37 $1,223.27 $1,277.38 $4,079.45 



:Milk receipts, retafl $213.31 $1,535.05 $1,254.67 

[Milk Tec&pU, wholesale 1.00 138.26 195.87 



$682.00 $3,685.03 



Cream rec^ts. 

Total receipts . . 

Labor profit 

Labor loss 

Average labor profit. 



6.75 



60.84 106.20 



.50 
.51 



.S48.63 
241.50 



$220.06 $1,734.15 $1,556.74 $1,366.01 $4,876.96 



37.-59 
3.96 
1.34 



341.78 333.47 



78.58. 791.42 



3.38 



7.58' 26.19! 



80 

Mrs. Smith: We would like to have some discussion on this question 
by the milkmen present and the consumers. Dr. Williams would be glad 
to answer any questions asked of him. 

Mr. Pile: Instead of 173 dealers, if there were only one dealer, what 
would they pay for the milk in Rochester? 

Dr. Williams : . One of the large distributing companies that have 
followed this question very closely and assisted me in following this investi- 
gation put at my disposal their equipment. They told me that if they could 
secure any part of the city which would enable them to operate satis- 
factorily, they would be willing to sell their very best milk for seven cents 
a quart. They would make a one cent reduction in the cost of distributing 
the milk and give the consumer something he is not getting now. That is 
the answer this company made to me and that is the proposal they made to 
me, providing I could find a market for their milk. 

Mr. Pile: Would they not take the cost off the producer? 

Dr. Williams: No, I am not in favor of that. I think the producer 
ought to get more for his milk. 

Mr. Pile : Would that not be the rule? 

Dr. Williams: If that phase were not safeguarded in some way. I 
find this, that in the competition between the producers and the distributors, 
I do not believe this problem will be solved until some harmony is developed. 
The Western New York Shippers' Association meets several times a year 
for the main purpose of conspiring how to get the better of the distributors; 
and the distributors meet once a month for the same purpose. It would 
not be necessary to overthrow any existing government to introduce 
harmony. Nearly every city in the United States is engaged today in the 
milk business. We have almost as many milk stations in Rochester run 
by the city for the sale of milk for the poor as we have school houses. So 
it would not be a question of abstract philosophy. 

Mr. Felix Albright: A number of years ago there was an organiza- 
tion of farmers to raise the price of milk. What did dealers do in Phila- 
delphia? They went 400 miles into the State of New York to get milk 
down here to destroy the organization. It cost them more money than it 
does now. They paid six cents a quart for New York milk and won't give 
us but 4|. They tried to kill us all. They have gone to work and got an 
ordinance passed that the milk must come down here in a refrigerator car. 
One of our committee bought a quart of milk of a dealer in Philadelphia 
and he had the doctor look at that milk and it looked very pure. No doubt 
he had extracted some of the cream, and it generated enough gas in fifteen 
minutes to blow the cork up to the ceiling. I was introduced to one of 
the best chemists in Philadelphia. Afterwards the government secured 
his services. I was introduced to him and he said, "I will show you what 
the people are buying for evaporated cream, which is nothing but four per 



81 

cent milk, thickened with starch and chrome yellow." If you can get better 
milk than you did out of the small dealers, handling three or four small 
dairies, I do not know where it is going to come from. We have some good 
particular farmers who have good cattle and are taking good care of them, 
and then we have great big dairies that do not get much care. One of the 
best milk producers, a man in Burlington, where Mr. Supplee gets milk 
from, is going out of business because he cannot get help. He bought 
milk machinery, yet he can't get help. The greatest problem in the world 
is to secure help. Men are going out of the milk business because they can't 
get enough to produce the article that the Board of Health wants sent to 
the city. They require too much of the producer. They will send a man 
out on your farms who will talk about tuberculosis. A cow that is affected 
with tuberculosis does not give enough to pay for her feed, and away she 
goes. We don't want her. We are just as particular to keep away from 
tuberculosis as anybody. We don't want to see it. If you let the wind 
blow on a cow for six hours, she will not give the proper yield — they require 
so much. You might think we would have to spray the cows with 
rose water and cologne. They speak about better cattle. I have some of 
the finest Jersey cattle that stand on the ground. Burlington County had 
the reputation of sending the best iced car milk to Philadelphia some five 
years ago, and George Abbott secured the majority of that milk. He and 
Supplee are the best men in Philadelphia and pay the best price for the 
milk that they get. Some men get it and just keep inside the law. They 
talk a great deal about milk. We had a man who was paid about fifty 
dollars to come down and talk the money side of the milk pail. There is 
no money side for the producer and that is the reason he is going out of 
business. 

Mrs. Smith: We have got about two minutes for one or two dis- 
cussions. 

Mr. Steffans: I have made a little study of the milk question. As 
was so very correctly put by the speaker, the production of pure milk 
at such a price as the city can afford to pay is the problem, and it will be 
solved only when the city producer and the country producer co-operate. 
To illustrate the point, we in Baltimore have an immense tobacco ware- 
house, in which the tobacco from the entire state is sent, graded and sold. 
We make our milk producers ship in milk, put it on an ordinary uncovered 
platform, and very often these cans stand out in the sun. The city inspector 
is running from can to can with his thermometer, and if it is above 60 
degrees, he dumps it out in the gutter and the man has no redress. When 
we come to realize that we owe to the milk producer to take as much pains 
with the milk that he sends us as we take with that tobacco, then we shall 
have taken the first step at least towards helping him in getting pure milk. 
The ordinary municipal health department, with all its milk legislation, 
says to that man, "Thou shalt not do that; we will fine you. Do that, and 



82. 

we will dump out your milk." When did they ever try to co-operate? 
When did he ever erect a municipal receiving station at which the utensils 
could be properly sterilized before they are sent back to him? Where is 
the municipality that attempted to do that? Where is the municipality 
that ever erected a municipal receiving station out in the country to try 
to organize the milk business and try to co-operate with the farmer so that 
the man could profitably sell milk at four cents a quart? Where is the 
municipality that will pay a premium for a low bacteria count and a high 
butter count? We owe it to the milk producer and farmer to try to co- 
operate with him, instead of simply saying, "Thou shalt not." Sending 
inspectors chasing around the farm, trying to tell him that he must do 
things which he often himself does not fully understand ! 

Mrs. Smith: I would hke to hear some of the milk dealers tell us 
whether they think it would be feasible to simplify the delivery of milk in 
cities having it delivered from one wagon. That proposition has been 
offered in some of the cities. Do the milk dealers think such a scheme 
would be feasible? 

Mr. Harbison: We think it desirable but not feasible. Where you 
have 173 retailers, how are you going to eliminate 172? According to 
the figures quoted, the delivery of milk in Rochester amounts to about 
63,000 quarts a day, and 90 teams could deliver the milk. That is approxi- 
mately 700 quarts on a wagon. I presume in Rochester you have pint 
jars as well as quart. We know that 700 quarts of milk to a wagon, if 
you serve every day, is not practical, speaking from a practical standpoint. 
If you will ask every one of those 173 dealers whether they would like to 
have all the business, each fellow will tell you yes, I would request the other 
172 to retire. Of course it is more economical if we serve at every doorstep, 
but how are you going to eliminate them? How is it feasible to eliminate 
the other fellow? If you people from Rochester can let me know how to 
make some money on the distribution of milk, we will be obliged to you. 

Mrs. Smith: The figures Dr. Williams gave are very interesting. It 
requires a $9,000 investment to have a plant which will produce 150 quarts 
a day. It is very interesting to know that. I would like very much to hear 
what the milk dealers have to say of the comparison between the farmers' 
investment and other investments. I have no doubt that some of the 
gentlemen here tonight have tremendous investments. 

Mr. George Abbott: I think I can best illustrate the point by calling 
attention to the ice dealers. They invest about $5,000 or $4,000 on an ice 
plant, gather the ice, and the ice dealer comes along with a $400 team, horse 
and wagon, and takes that ice to the city and distributes it. We know 
perfectly well that in the house it is worth about $1 a ton, and about $2 
a ton hauled in the city and retailed. He asks at least $8 a ton, 20 cents a 
hundred. He retails it in small quantities at $12 a ton. The difficulty of 



83 

the situation is he is conducting a very bulky and a very wasteful business, 
and notwithstanding the fact that he is collecting from the consumer five 
times in that case what the ice costs in the house, and notwithstanding 
that is only one-fifth the investment, he still does not get rich. That is the 
point. With regard to the general proposition, I think we need consolida- 
tion, as the large dealers and the small dealers should get together and have 
a central plant. When we get to that happy condition, where the public 
will let us work out our own salvation, we will try to work it out, but the 
moment that we consolidate and come together, some newspaper charges 
us with conspiracy and we are threatened with prosecution under the anti- 
trust act, and consequently we are debarred from a combination. It is 
not popular in these days to combine. We must go on in the old expensive 
way, and perhaps in the course of fifty or one hundred years it will all work 
out satisfactorily, but by that time some of us will be under the ground, I 
fear. There is no question but what it is a great work. It is well said that 
the farmer does not reckon his cost as he should. There is no doubt about 
that. He does not reckon his cost as the manufacturer does. The manu- 
facturer who would produce upon the loose methods that the farmer does 
would go to the wall very soon. 

In the matter of the distribution of milk there has been very great 
waste. There is no question about that. In running a dozen wagons 
in one block there is great waste. When all these factors are reduced 
to a good economical shape, the farmer will get more for his milk and the 
producer ^dll not pay more for it, but will pay for what it is worth. They 
will learn to distinguish, as was drawn out here tonight, between milk 
of low bacteria count and high fat and a high bacteria count and low 
fat. The buyer does not discriminate and consequently we have a condi- 
tion that it is very hard to get along with or to get results from. 

Mrs. Smith : Professor C. W. Larsen, of Pennsylvania State College, 
is now going to speak to us on the "Cost of Milk Production." 



THE FEED COST OF PRODUCING MILK. 

(In place of subject announced on programme as "Market Problems of the 
Milk Question.") 



Cael W. Larsen, 

Dairy Department, Pennsylvania State College. 



There are at the present time 933,640 dairy cows in Pennsylvania, 
as compared with 943,773 ten years ago. In spite of this decrease in the 
number of dairy cows, there has in the same period been a marked increase 
in the demand for milk. The population has increased from 6,302,115 to 
7,665,111 in the corresponding years. Millions of gallons of milk are 
being made into products almost unknown ten years ago. The question 
naturally arises, ''Why is. this decrease?" Certainly the farmers of 
Pennsylvania are not selling their cows unless there is more profit in other 
lines of agriculture. Will this condition continue, or what will be the 
solution of the difficulty? There is no other product of the farm that is 
more important or more necessary. Milk will continue to be produced. 

If dairying does not pay, why is it that almost without exception the 
dairy farmers of a country are prosperous farmers? The dairy localities, 
the dairy states and the nations in which dairying is carried on exten- 
sively are usually prosperous. Some will answer that the dairymen made 
their fortunes when feeds, labor, etc., were cheap. Others contend that 
by working 365 days in the year and by having the women and children 
assist with the milking and other work about the dairy, the combined 
labor income has accumulated until they have more wealth than their 
neighbors. 

I am not prepared to offer a solution for this important problem. 
I suggest, however, that it will be met by both an increase in price and a 
more economical production. Milk, on the average, is not paid for in 
proportion to its actual food value when compared with many of our 
other food products, and when the consumer learns this he will be willing 
to pay a reasonable price for it. In actual food value a quart of milk is 
equivalent to three-quarters of a pound of sirloin steak. 

One of the reasons why some dairies are unprofitable is because a 
wrong system is being maintained for a particular locality. For instance, 
an intensive system is many times practiced where the cost of feed and 
labor is high and the price of milk low. A dairy farm, on which the 
practice is to feed all of the grain to the cattle and at the same time pur- 
chase additional concentrates also to keep the cattle in the stable nearly 

(84) 



85 

all the year, besides hiring men to devote all their time to caring for the 
herd, cannot be profitable unless a good price is secured for the milk. 
Many dairies are over-capitalized. It should not be expected that cows 
worth $100 should return a profit when kept in a barn worth from $400 
to $800 per head. 

The feed cost of producing milk is rapidly increasing. Bran that a 
few years ago was dumped into the Mississippi River by the carload is 
now almost too expensive to feed, while cottonseed meal, which, not many 
years ago, could be had for about the cost of transportation now sells for 
more than $30 per ton and at that price furnishes protein cheaper than 
any other grain feed. Careful feeding and a study of the feeds available 
are necessary. 

The dairy cow is a machine and a marvelous one. In nature she was 
intended to furnish enough milk to supply her calf, but by careful breed- 
ing, feeding and selection man has developed a machine that can produce 
enough milk to feed ten calves. A cow must be fed a balanced ration. 
She must be given a sufficient amount of the necessary elements to main- 
tain her body and produce milk. A certain amount of protein and energy 
is necessary to maintain the animal and a definite additional amount for 
milk in proportion to the amount produced. A wheel maker with enough 
steel for ten wheels and enough wood for fifteen could make only ten 
wheels. In the same way a cow with enough protein for ten pounds of 
milk and enough carbohydrates and fat for twenty would only produce 
ten pounds of milk. She does not make milk deficient in protein, but is 
actually limited in production by the lack of sufficient protein. An 
excess of this constituent, however, would be used. Protein should be 
fed in sufficient quantities, but not much in excess, for it is more expen- 
sive than the other constituents. Recently a dairyman noticed an 
excessive feed cost, and when his ration was studied it was found that he 
was feeding enough protein for a cow producing four to five thousand 
pounds of milk more than his cows were producing. 

A dairyman can no more feed a cow intelligently without a scale than 
a fireman can a boiler without a steam gauge. As a cow goes up in produc- 
tion she should be increased in feed allowance, and as she goes down 
she should be decreased. The more milk that a cow will produce the 
less will be its cost. The maintenance required is the same for cows of 
the same size. 

The fewer cows necessary to produce a given amount of milk, the 
less will be its cost. Table I shows that the feed cost of 295 cows in 
Pennsylvania was 92 cents per hundred, or 2 cents per quart. These 
cows averaged 6,000 pounds per year. The cost of feed here was figured 
at $1.50 per month for pasture, $10 to $14 per ton for hay, grain at about 
$30 per ton and silage $5. The hay item is a bit lower than market price 
for many parts of Pennsylvania, although much of the hay was only 
worth $10 to $14 in the mow. Had they been 9,000 pound producers, the 



86 



cost would have been decreased to 78 cents per hundred, or .0167 per 
quart, and 12,000 pound producers to 71 cents per hundred, or .0154 
per quart. In order to produce milk more economically, a larger number 
of high-producing cows must be maintained. Too many cows that only 
milk during a short period of the year and only produce a small amount 
of milk are kept in our herds. It is almost impossible to buy cows that 
will produce these larger amounts. It is, therefore, necessary that more 
dairymen raise their own animals. It is only by so doing that we will be 
able to secure good herds at a reasonable cost. 

In Table II the feed cost of milk production was based on the sale 
or market price of the feed, except in the one case in which the New 



WHAT BECOMES OF THE FEED EATEN 



Maintenance 



When Fed Too Much 

Production 



Stored up 



1000 lb. Cow 



20 lb. 4 per cent Milk as gain in weight 

Just Enough 



Maintenance 


Production 







1000 lb. Cow 



20 lb. 4 per cent Milk 



Too Little 
Maintenance 



Production 



1000 lb. Cow 



10 lb. 4 per cent 
Milk 



Jersey costs were based on both. The question of which figure to use 
has been discussed considerably, but it seems to me that unless the 
differential or difference between the cost of production and market 
price is considered, a fair comparison of farming methods cannot be made. 
It should also be kept in mind that the feeds, although given as 
market value, in some cases they could not all be sold. For example, 
corn stover, although it has a good market in many localities in Pennsyl- 
vania, still in some sections it could not be sold to advantage. It is 
difficult, therefore, to determine just what should be charged for some 
feeds. 



87 

What of the costs other than feed? I regret to say that my records 
of this study in Pennsylvania have not been completed. We are making 
a careful study of this subject from the standpoint of various practices 
and will within a few months have definite figures for these costs under 
Pennsylvania conditions. It will, however, be interesting to discuss the 
costs as found in some other states. Do they compare with our condi- 
tions? It will be seen by the following table that the cost of keeping a 
cow a year varies from S65 to $74.70, with an average of $70.77. This 
figured in terms of cost, other than feed, is as shown in Table IV. 

It is obvious from Table IV that it is even more important that our 
herds contain good producers in order to keep down the cost of producing 
milk. According to the above figures the feed cost per quart of milk is 
two cents for cows producing 6,000 pounds per year. 

Let us now return to some of the main items of cost. 

The labor item is a large one and one that is difficult to reckon under 
various conditions of farming. It must be kept in mind that the labor 
cost is greater on a farm where the man devotes all his time to the herd 
than where the herd is simply depended upon to furnish part of the income 
and other cash crops are sold. In the latter system the dairyman often 
makes a better division of labor. During a large part of the year a hired 
man may be used in milking cows without an additional expense, while 
at other seasons of the year the boys on the farm would be home from 
school and could contribute their share of work. I am not in favor of child 
labor, as it is generally considered, but I do believe that the physical and 
mental development for boys working on the farm under wholesome 
conditions is desirable. It is good training for the boys and at the same 
time helps to decrease the cost of labor, but when you consider farms 
where the practice is to employ a man for each ten to fifteen cows to devote 
all his time to them, there the cost per cow for the year reaches a large sum. 
At the present cost of labor, $30 per year per cow is a reasonable figure. 

The items of housing and depreciation, although they vary consider- 
ably, are not small. As was suggested above, many herds are over-capi- 
tafized. The milking periods of cows are also often shorter than some 
suppose. If six years is considered as the milking fife of a cow, $100 animals 
would depreciate $10 per year, figuring that she would be worth $40 for 
beef. If less expensive cows are kept, of course the depreciation would 
be proportionately more. Some cows, however, will milk for ten or twelve 
years, while others fail to breed regularly and others have udder troubles 
and only have a short period of usefulness. 

The cost of bedding as found in other states is about as we find in 
Pennsylvania. Where cows are kept in the stable the greater part of the 
year, I know of no system of bedding that costs less than $4 to $5 per year 
per cow. 

Let us discuss briefly the returns other than milk. The largest of 
these is the manure. A cow will produce about twelve tons per year, and 



88 



the results of the experiments at State College show that manure is worth 
on our soil about $1.50 per ton as compared with commercial fertihzers. 
When the cost of hauling is considered and the losses taken into considera- 
tion, the manure per cow per year is worth approximately $12. On some 
land deficient in humus the manure would be worth slightly more. 

The other item of income is the calf, a variable factor. Calves from 
the average cow in the above herds would be worth from $3 to $10, or 
perhaps a little more, but not all cows breed each year; some calves do not 
live and accidents of one sort or another decrease the actual returns from 
calves. Bull calves from the grade cows are worth only a little. 

My conclusion is not that you should sell your cows, but rather keep 
the good ones, feed a balanced ration, study feed costs and feed analysis, 
produce a clean, wholesome milk, and you will in most cases secure market 
prices for home-grown feeds and make a satisfactory interest on your capital 
invested and a fair compensation for your labor. 

Table I. — Feed Cost on Eleven Pennsylvania Dairies. 











Total 




Cost to 




Number 


Cost of 


Cost of 


Cost of 


Milk 


Produce 


Number. 


of Cows. 


Roughage. 


Grain. 


Feed. 


Produced. 


100 Pounds 
Milk. 


1 


18 


$354.01 


$749.11 


$1,103.12 


110,391 


$0.99 


2 


22 


708.25 


671.22 


1,379.77 


149,998 


.92 


3; 


53 


1,592.67 


677.90 


2,270.57 


288,397 


.79 


4 


49 


1,501.83 


1,345.83 


2,847.27 


274,396 


1.04 


5 


13 


470.34 


297.32 


767.66 


79,695 


.96 


6 


30 


1,194.45 


483.30 


1,677.75 


160,130 


1.04 


7 


16 


631.45 


388.47 


1,019.92 


125,203 


.81 


8 


10 
19 


3.32.35 
587.06 


311.72 
617.70 


644.07 
1,204.76 


80,335 
117,451 


.80 


9 


1.03 


10 


32 


1,057.31 


824.52 


1,881.83 


193,211 


.97 


11 


33 


890.55 


909.47 


1,800.02 


199,294 


.90 


Total 


295 


$9,320.27 


$7,276.47 


$16,596.74 


1,778,.501 


$0.93 


Average 




31 . 59 


24.66 


56.26 


602,885 




Feed cost per quart 












.02 



Table II. — Feed Cost of Milk — Other States. 



Connecticut .... 
Massachusetts. . 
New Hampshire 
New Hampshire 
New Jersey .... 
New Jersey .... 



Number 
of Cows. 



124 
131 
203 
325 
31 



Average 

Pounds Cost of 

Milk Feed. 

Produced. 



6,378 
6,036 
6,934 
6,463 
8,561 



$84 . 07 
90.04 
74.35 
73.03 

n21.60 
t95.73 



Cost per 

100 Pounds 

Milk. 



.32 
.49 

.06 
.13 

.42 



1.12 



Cost per 
Quart. 



).028 

.032 
.022 
.024 
.030 
.024 



* Feed at sale price. 

t Feed at cost of production. 



89 



Table III. — Cost Other than Feed in Other States. 



N.H. 



Taxes $0.80 

Depreciation j 8 . 83 

Housing (tax on barn, etc.) 9.05 



Bull. 

Tools, utensils, salt 

Ice, coal, wood 

Veterinary service 

Insurance 

Cow Testing Association. 

Delivery 

Labor 

Bedding 

Interest 



3.79 

.53 

2.17 

.87 

'l'40 
7.18 

32.33 
4.00 
3.75 



Total $74.70 



Conn. 



$1.25 

13.00 

6.75 

3.00 



2.00 
"^40 



33.60 
5.00 



N.J. 



10.00 
5.00 
1.93 



43.00 
5.29 
5.00 



$65 . 00 



$70 . 22 



Mass. 



LI. 25 
7.50 
4.00 
1.15 
9.00 



35.00 
'5'25 



$73 , 15 



Average. 



$70 , 77 



Table IV. — Cost Other than Feed 
Computed prom Table III. 



Pounds per Cow per Year. 


Cost per Quart Milk. 


3,000 

6,000 

9,000 

12,000 


$0,052 
.026 

.017 
.013 



Mr. Dulles: I would like to ask a question. You have the cost of 
delivery at 17.18. I figure the cost of delivery at about 21. The freight 
is half a cent a quart within 25 or 30 miles of Philadelphia. That alone 
will figure more than 17.18. 

Prof. Larsen: As I tried to explain, these were not my figures, but 
they were collected from different cities. 

Mr. Dulles: I was speaking because the figures are presented. 
Then I think there are two other items of the cost of delivery. One is 
the cost of hauling and another is the cost of shipping in cans, from the 
loss of cans. 

Prof. Larsen: They are supposed to be included here. 

Mr. Dulles: If that is included, I figure that the cost will be $22 a 
cow instead of 17.18, which is quite a difference. 

Prof. Larsen: If you have got an 8,000 pound producer, you can 
pay that. 

Mr. Dulles: No, you can't afford it. 

Prof, Larsen: As I started out, a statement like that is absolutely 
out of place, saying you can't produce it for 4^ cents, without saying what 
the price of the feed is. 



90 

Mk. Dulles: Let me say that I have taken the feed at exactly the 
figures you have given us, because I have figured silage at $5 a ton and 
hay at $18 a ton, cottonseed meal would cost $34 a ton, which is a little 
more than you figure it (at an average of about $30), which is your figure. 

Peof. Laesen: The dairymen are doing it. 

Me. Dulles: I do not think they do that on an 8,000 pound cow. 

Hon. Me. Ceitchfield : You said something about the great value of 
milk as a food. Which is the better, the milk which is rich in casein or 
rich in butter fats? Which has the best value? 

Peof. Laesen: I cannot answer that question. Men who know 
more about it than I do, do not agree on it, and men who know as much 
as anybody, do not agree on it. Some claim that casein is more valuable 
and others claim that butter fat is. They are entirely different. It 
depends on what you are consuming with it. If you need fat to balance 
up with some other food you are eating with the milk, then it would be 
desirable to have fats; or if you are having fats in some other form, then 
casein would be desirable. I can't answer that question. 

[The conference at this point adjourned until 10 o'clock Friday 
morning.] 



CORN DAY 

Friday Morning, December 5, 1913, 10 o'Clock. 
Council Chamber, City Hall, 



Chairman, Clarence Sears Kates, Esquire, of the Philadelphia Society 
for Promoting Agriculture. 

Mr. Kates, after calling the conference to order, made the following 
remarks : 

With the enormous amount of extremely valuable information on 
agriculture collected by state institutions and our national Department of 
Agriculture, a constant effort has been made to render the data available 
to the man on the farm. Publicity in general was comparatively easy — 
but to get the information to the particular individual requiring it was the 
problem. A number of methods were worked out; some were adaptations 
of older means, some quite new. 

The bulletins of the state colleges, state experimental stations, State 
Department of Agriculture and our National Department, even city 
dwellers are familiar with; the farm journals and the general dailies were 
of course used, and will always be invaluable. 

The next step was to send a properly informed man to lecture on his 
specialty at some chosen locality, the farmers of a neighborhood choosing 
the subject and the College or State Department of Agriculture providing 
the man. 

A further advance was made when the agricultural educational train 
was evolved, an important point in its favor being that even if a farming 
neighborhood had not requested information — or halls were unavailable — 
the train itself was the lecture room, and advance notice was spread broad- 
cast that on a certain day the train with a staff of lecturers would be on 
such and such a siding. This obviated waiting for initiative — and that 
was indeed an advance, as lack of leadership is a great drawback in rural 
progress as yet. But a serious disadvantage to all these sincere efforts 
was the lack of knowledge as to the conditions peculiar to the locality, 
hmiting therefore the recommendations of the lecturers or experts to general 
directions; whereas if they could know the specific needs they could 
largely recommend a specific practice. 

What was to be done? 

The answer is found in what is termed the Farm Bureau and its 
County Agent. And too, it is at that point where the interests of the city 

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92 

can be connected up with the farms. Hence the Farm Bureau and County 
Agent as a topic for this morning's session. 

But in addition to getting helpful information to the men who knew 
they required it, bow about the still larger nuniber who didn't know they 
needed it or lacked initiative to make some effort to get it? 

And by way almost of interpolation at this point, the query made by 
some is. Why should such efforts be made to get information to people 
who have not gumption enough to try to get it for themselves? Let them 
go. Why should such backward fellows be helped or pursued? The 
answer to that, expressed in the lowest, most primitive terms is — it is not 
done for the benefit of those individuals but because the world must he 
fed — and that means you and me. And until we reach ideal farming, we 
must work with what we have that you and I will not starve during the 
period of reconstruction. 

I hasten to say I do not subscribe to that answer as completely cover- 
ing the reason, but it is an answer to ''carping critics" or "knockers," 
whether the "knocker" is farmer or city-dweller, and some are found both 
in country and city. The opinion I have formed of the actual workers 
in this field of rural regeneration is of the highest — as a class or profession, 
their disinterested, unselfish work is quite equal indeed to the spirit animat- 
ing our clergy missionaries, and I am extremely glad to have this oppor- 
tunity to pay my humble compliments to them. 

But to return to the programme. I have indicated that the Farm 
Bureau brings the city into direct relations with the country — the method 
for so doing will be explained to you by an expert later on. And I am very 
proud that the expert is a Pennsylvania man who has evolved ingenious, 
original and, of course best of all, absolutely practical plans. 

By referring to the developing of plans to reach the individual farm 
with such a bureau or organization, you should know that there are many 
other kinds of development required and many plans proposed. It has 
therefore become necessary in a territory so large as the United States 
to collect and study in a central place their many lines — hence its title, 
the Rural Organization Service. And the chief of that new work we are 
to have the pleasure of listening to and hearing at first hand somewhat 
of his plans. 

Pure seed, true to type, is a matter of fundamental importance. The 
man who devotes himself to the improvement of seed through breeding 
is therefore serving mankind (which I would remind ourselves — means 
serving you and me) very directly and we will be privileged to hear (again 
at first hand) from one who is of the highest authority and a practical 
and scientific worker of the first rank, and who has paid us the honor of 
coming more than a thousand miles to fulfil his acceptance of our invita- 
tion. His address will add greatly to the value of our conference. 

I believe that the Farm Bureau and its County Agent is destined to 
be the principal avenue for the rapid introduction of guaranteed true to 



93 

type and pure seed, hence the appropriateness of that subject in connection 
with the Farm Bureau. 

And lastly- — an unexpected and unique use by a distinctly city institu- 
tion of the highest stanchng has been observed in relation to the County 
Agent and I am happy to state that a great trust company sends to us an 
able and enthusiastic officer to describe their method. 

You will please bear in mind that these topics are brought to your 
attention from the limited point of view of their advantage to the city, 
with the hope that the people of the city will be more alert to the necessity 
of their taking active steps in facilitating the introduction of more satis- 
factory methods of increasing their food supply, infinitely bettering the 
quality of the food and perhaps lessening its cost to the consumer. 

And now it is but right, as it is indeed my pleasure, to express my 
sense of the honor that has been conferred upon me by my colleagues of 
the conference in inviting me to open this session. To President Calwell 
I extend my thanks for the honor and beg to have him accept my congratu- 
lations on the fine, broad-minded way he has developed this Corn Show 
and Agricultural Conference. And to the able and untiring president of 
the Pennsylvania Rural Progress Association, whose management of the 
programme and discussions is another example of her ability. I ask Mrs. 
Smith to continue her services at this significant session, significant because 
it is my hope that from it will eventuate a Philadelphia Agricultural and 
Marketing Bureau. 

Mrs. Smith: I want to refer to an expression that I heard from Dean 
Russell, of Wisconsin. When the Wisconsin exhibition was out there last 
summer, somebody spoke to him about a certain meeting, an agTicultural 
meeting, which took place, and said, ''Was there anything accomplished 
by the meeting, or was it just a hot air fest?" 

That is exactly what Mr, Kates wants to indicate, that this meeting 
is not to be a hot air fest. 

Now, the Pennsylvania State Grange News, in its last number, quotes 
resolutions which were passed by the National Grange, and among others 
was this: "Resolved, That the excitement of holding agricultural meetings 
in various parts of the country, for no purpose whatever except an apparent 
desire on the part of people to uplift those who do not want uphfting"- — 
I am not quoting it exactly, but that is about the gist of it — "is to be 
discouraged." 

Now, you see it is to be discouraged that people should get together 
with no object in view, but, as Mr. Kates pointed out, there is a very 
definite object in view and there is to be something left over from this 
conference. There is a real object before us and that is to assist in the 
solving of these problems, and there is very reasonable hope that the object 
will be attained. 



94 

We have with us this morning a list of very distinguished speakers. 

On the programme, first of all, you will notice Prof. T. N. Carver, who 
is chief of the Rural Organization Service, United States Department of 
Agriculture. He is an economist of great fame. His work on the economics 
of agriculture is well known, and what he has to tell us this morning with 
regard to the future plans for rural organization in this country will be of 
great interest to us and will give us the hope that something at last is to 
be accomplished in a national way to promote the welfare of the farmers 
and, through them, the whole nation. I take great pleasure in introducing 
Dr. Carver. 



THE RURAL ORGANIZATION SERVICE. 



Dr. T. N. Carver, 

Director, Rviral Organization Service, United States Department of Agriculture, 

Washington, D. C. 



Ladies and Gentlemen; The problem of the economic distribution of 
the products of the farm is, as I presume has been stated several times 
already in this meeting, largely a matter of getting the city consumer and 
the country producer on a basis of mutual understanding and co-operation, 
but it is not a very profitable expenditure of time to discuss co-operation 
in the air until you have some definite scheme or plan according to which 
you are going to co-operate or upon which you are going to co-operate. 
All co-operation, which means merely working together, is, of course — 
and this is elementary — based upon mutual concessions and accommoda- 
tions. People who will not concede anything or accommodate themselves 
to the requirements of other people, of course cannot work with other 
people and must work alone and, therefore, inefficiently. There is 
nothing to be accomplished by talking either to the farmers or the city 
consumers about the other fellow's faults. Leadership in this world has 
always been divided into two main types. One tells the people about 
their own rights, their wrongs, their grievances, but he never accom- 
plishes anything except getting himself a little popularity at times. 
Nothing that is worth while is ever done by that method. There is 
another type of leader who tells the people nothing about their rights or 
wrongs or grievances, but tells them about their opportunities and their 
obligations. While this type of leader is not always the most popular, 
his is the leadership that is really constructive and that accomplishes 
results. The best illustration that we have at the present day is in the 
condition of the southern negro. There is a type of leader who sets up a 
fiery cross and tells the people about their grievances and their wrongs 
and tries to excite them into some kind of concerted action to get their 
rights and redress their wrongs. Then there is Booker T. Washington 
telling them nothing about their wrongs or their grievances, but telling 
them a great deal about their opportunities and obligations. We all 
believe that is the type of leader that is going to help the southern negro. 

That is a mere preface to what I want to say about mutual accommo- 
dations and concessions which the city and country people must make. 
All moral principles, in fact, begin by getting the other man's point of 
view. The child cries and asks, "How would you like it if you were in 

(95) 



96 

my place?" That is elementary. All theories of justice and equity 
result from putting yourself in the other man's place. 

Before a more economic method of getting the farm produce to the 
city consumer can be inaugurated the city consumers must be willing to 
spend a little more time and take a little more trouble in their marketing. 
So long as the city consumer expects to use the telephone a few hours 
before dinner and order the things which she forgot to get in the morning, 
she ■v\ill never be able to trade directly ^\dth the farmer. So long as the 
farmer insists on dumping his produce in a nondescript and unstandardized 
condition upon the market, the city consumer will never be able to buy of 
him. The middleman will continue to be necessary, and there is no 
occasion for attacking him under those conditions. So long as he is a 
necessity, so long as the goods must go through his hands, he can charge 
whatever toll he chooses to charge. It is like goods on one side of the 
river and a demand on the other, but only one bridge and one man or one 
group of men controlling that bridge. So long as the goods must pass 
over that bridge and in no other way, the people that control that bridge 
can charge what they Hke. But if another bridge is built, and even 
though it is not so good, then that is a new channel that is opened up 
through which goods can go from one side to the other, and that will 
hmit the toll which can be charged on the first. 

The city consumer must, therefore, be willing to buy intelligently and 
take some trouble, and that means, first, to buy some time in advance 
and not expect to get instantaneous service. In the second place, the 
city consumer must be willing to buy standardized goods in standardized 
packages. So long as one consumer insists on having two eggs, another 
half a dozen, and another a dozen, and there is no uniformity, it is very 
difficult for the farmer to sell eggs to individual consumers in that way. 
But if they will get in the habit of buying standardized packages, then 
the farmer may be able to meet their needs, but not until then. That is 
not only true of eggs, but other produce as well. 

On the other hand, as I indicated a few moments ago, so long as 
the farmer takes the easy way of selling his products in a nondescript 
condition, the city consumer cannot use the goods in that condition. He 
must have what he wants. He is not going to buy a nondescript lot in 
the hope that he may get something that he wants and throw the rest 
away, but the farmer must grade and standardize his own product; 
otherwise the city consumer will never buy directly in large quantities. 
If the farmer will grade and standardize his products, not only as to 
quality but as to package, so that it is marketed in uniform packages 
about the size that the average consumer can conveniently handle, 
that in itself will make possible the bridging of that gap between 
the two and therefore of reducing the toll which can be charged 
now by those necessary agencies through which the goods must be 
transmitted. 



97 

As I said a few moments ago, so long as the middleman, particularly 
the commission man, is a necessity, nothing is to be gained by attacking 
him. He is a necessity. He is here to stay so long as conditions remain 
as- they are. When conditions change so as to make him unnecessary, 
he will disappear automatically and you will not need to attack him 
at all. I have recently spent some little time in the best organized coun- 
try in the world, I suppose, agriculturally speaking, Denmark. A dis- 
tinguishing fact in Denmark is the way in which the farm products are 
standardized at the farm. We imagine sometimes that they have a great 
marketing association, but they have nothing of the kind, because when 
they standardize their own products at the farm they do not need to do 
much marketing. The buyers come and take the produce off their hands 
because the product is uniform in quality and absolutely standardized, 
and the buyer anywhere can order from any part of Denmark and get 
what he wants. For example, I will take one bacon-curing establishment 
at Frederickssund, in which I spent some httle time. They were receiving 
orders daily from small grocerymen in New Castle and other English 
towns, besides selling large quantities to large buyers. The small grocery- 
man in an English town can order from any of these co-operative bacon 
factories, because he knows that every hundred pounds of Danish bacon 
is like every other hundred pounds. The secret of it is not discovered 
until you get back to the farms themselves. You may ride a hundred 
miles through rural Denmark, visit a thousand farms, and look at ten 
thousand pigs, and you will find them all alike, of one breed and as nearly 
alike as animals of a standardized breed ever are. In the second place, 
they are all marketed at about the same weight. They figure that a pig 
from 180 to 200 pounds makes the kind of bacon which the Enghsh con- 
sumer wants. So the pigs are uniform not only in breed, color and 
quality, but in size. The curing process is standardized. One hundred 
pounds, as I said, of Danish bacon is like every other hundred pounds 
and the quality is guaranteed. 

Mr. Egan, our Minister to Denmark, said that within a short time 
before we were there, the report came back from London that a couple of 
shipments of Danish butter had been below par. It was made a national 
issue. Apologies were sent around to the different legations, not that 
they had bought any, but because the people thought that somehow it 
was a stain on the national honor. Is there any mystery or magic about 
the fact that Danish butter sold well? The people have been told their 
own obhgations and opportunities, but they have not been taught to lay 
the blame on the other fellow. They have risen to their opportunities 
under this teaching, and the world comes to them for its products. That 
is one case, at least, where godliness is profitable. 

Let me summarize what I have said thus far. If the farmer will 
grade and standardize his own products, make them uniform in quality, 
put them in uniform packages, standardized in such form that the average 



98 

consumer can buy it; if the consumer on the other hand, is wilhng to take 
a httle trouble and not expect instantaneous service from the nearest 
store, but buys a httle in advance and will buy in uniform, standardized 
packages, then the gap is bridged. 

The next point is that not all the produce, or any large proportion of 
it, is likely to be sold directly to consumers. I should expect that a great 
amount of farm produce would continue to go through agencies of one 
kind or another. The first effort would be to substitute the jobber for 
the commission man. So long as the handling of farm produce is largely 
speculative, as it must be, if farm produce is nondescript, ungraded and 
unstandardized, the middleman does not like to assume the risk; he does 
not want to do the speculating and he throws it back on the other fellow. 
He merely receives it on consignment and the farmer must take the risk. 
When the farmer himself standardizes his product, so that there is a 
little less risk in handling it, then the jobber or the middleman ceases to 
become the middleman and becomes the jobber. That is the history of 
the development thus far. He buys it outright, takes it off the farmer's 
hands and distributes it himself. I should expect the man who makes 
that his specialty would probably continue to be distributing more 
economically in the mass than the farmer himself. But the fact that 
this other avenue is open, that the consumer can go to the producer with- 
out having to go through the intermediary of the middleman, or the 
producer can get his stuff past the middleman to the consumer, that 
in itself will limit the toll which a middleman, who will then become the 
jobber, can charge for his services. I should expect, as I said, the man 
in that business who makes it a specialty can do it far more cheaply than 
the co-operative society or any other society who tries to market directly, 
but he is compelled to do it cheaper by reason of the fact that it is pos- 
sible for them to get along without him. 

The same principle is involved here as in the theory of railway rates 
where a railroad has to compete with water transportation." Railroads in 
the neighborhood of the great lakes, for instance; it is well recognized 
that they keep their rates down by reason of the fact that water trans- 
portation is still a possibility. It is not necessary that the bulk of the 
freight shall go by water; it is not necessary that a very large percentage 
shall actually go by water. The mere fact that the channel is open limits 
the toll that the railroad can charge. 

So, in this situation which I am describing, it will not be necessary 
that a large proportion of the farm produce shall be actually marketed 
through parcel post or any other direct method. The mere fact that 
that method is open and possible will force the surviving middlemen to 
do their business economically. If they can do that, it will force efficient 
methods upon them. I do not know that middlemen are different from 
other people. So long as conditions are easy we are certain to profit in 
a way, no matter what the methods are. The farmer, the middleman, 
the merchant and others are inclined to be a little slipshod in their 



99 

methods. No economical society is interested in preserving a type of 
business after that business ceases to be necessary. When the consumer 
finds that he can get along just as well without certain products, the 
farmer that produces that kind of product becomes unnecessary and must 
go. The same will be true of the middleman whenever his services are 
unnecessary. There is no use in complaining about that. It is a law of 
the universe. Possibly some other kind of universe might be run on a 
different principle. That is not our concern. 

I have mentioned grading, standardizing, getting a direct market and 
the effect which this will have on indirect marketing, which will be the 
principal method of getting the goods from the producer to the consumer. 

Then there is the question of transportation. The chief difficulty 
is not with railway rates. I have recently been in Alabama and I have in 
mind the experience of a co-operative society in marketing strawberries. 
They have no complaint to make against railroad rates. They are willing 
to pay good rates for good service, but what spoils the business is the 
frequency with which a carload of strawberries fails to reach its destina- 
tion. It is properly started on its way, it gets off on a side-track some- 
where, is three or four days late getting to market, and the loss of one or 
two cars of strawberries is a pretty severe one to a group of co-operators. 
They would much better sell on the spot than to undertake to do their 
own marketing. They cannot afford to stand the risk. This particular 
co-operative strawberry growers' association has lost in the last two years 
several carloads of strawberries just by that method. 

As I have said, they have no complaint against the railroad rates; 
they do complain against the inefficiency with which those goods are 
delivered. This is not meant as an attack upon the railroad. 

I have not named any railroad. It happens that all these losses 
have come through the inefficiency of one particular railway system. It 
might be interesting if I should name that system, but I will not. I say 
this for the general benefit of the railway men who are genuinely inter- 
ested in this problem of farm economics and the improved methods of 
distribution. One of the first things they ought to do is to see to it that 
perishable freight is delivered promptly. Perhaps they think they are 
doing it. The specific cases which I have mentioned, which I can vouch 
for, show that there is still room for improvement. I believe the rail- 
roads can do more for this problem by getting efficiency in service than 
by engaging in any kind of an educational campaign, although educa- 
tional campaigns are always valuable. 

Mrs. Smith: What we need is this sort of a clear explanation of 
where we stand, what the condition of the country is, what we have to 
face and how these things can be remedied. We need to understand each 
other. We at these meetings represent so many different interests, the 
farmers, the commission men and the business men who are handling 
this food problem; also the people of the city, the consumers — all sides 



100 

of this question are represented at this meeting. Consequently we need 
a clear explanation and a perfect understanding of where we stand. We 
had some misunderstanding and a little difference at the meeting yester- 
day, but I do not know but what it added to the general interest. That 
reminds me of a story that I am very fond of. I think the best story- 
teller is Booker T. Washington. He tells a story of when he was first 
starting to school, when he had great difficulty in getting a class room. 
Finally he had to resort to using a chicken house. He went one morning 
to a neighbor and he said, ''Uncle Rastus, could you help me clean out 
that chicken house?'' Uncle Rastus, a little confused, said, "Say, 
Brother Washington, don't you know any better than that? You can't 
clean out a chicken house in the daytime." [Laughter.] He misunder- 
stood him, and that is the point here; we want to understand each other. 
We want to get together. That is what this meeting will certainly bring 
about. 

We are now to hear from Mr. A. B. Ross, in charge of the Farm 
Bureau of Bedford County, Pa. He has done a most unique work there 
and is often spoken of as the expert missionary, because of the fact that 
Mr. Ross is the first man, perhaps, to realize that this matter of training 
the farmer could only be done in the farmer's kitchen, with personal inter- 
views, close touch with the men, and not through lectures, pamphlets 
and things of that kind. A farmer is like all the rest of us — he wants 
to be showii, and showing how he did it is what Mr. Ross is going to talk 
about this morning. We feel that this is a very significant talk that we 
are going to have from Mr. Ross. The thinkers of this country feel that 
Mr. Ross, more than any other man in the United States, has solved the 
question of how to bring the farmer to see this question of standardiza- 
tion, which Dr. Carver spoke of just now, and he has shown it to the 
farmer as a money-making proposition. I want to say this: we all go to 
Pennsylvania State College and state colleges and attend agricultural 
meetings. I am not going to knock Pennsylvania State College again, 
as I was accused of doing yesterday, for I feel anything but that way. 
I have the most sincere regard for State College, but I think that Dr. 
Watts would back me up in saying that the farmers could not see any 
better things than I did the other day, when we were taken through the 
food industry of this city, down on Front and Dock Streets, and see what 
these city people want to eat. I am a farmer, but I did not know they 
wanted chickens packed in white pine boxes, wrapped in paraffine paper. 
I did not know that the minute I washed an egg on my farm, that I 
spoiled the egg. How many farmers know that eggs do not have to be 
washed? How many farmers know that? They think they are extra 
careful because they wash the eggs, and they told me in the commission 
house that a washed egg is about half gone before it gets here. The 
worst thing to do to an egg is to wash it. Those are the kind of things 
that Mr. Ross is teaching in Bedford County, and I now take great pleas- 
ure in introducing Mr. A. B. Ross. 



THE FARM BUREAU; WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT DOES. 



A. B. Ross, 

Assistant Agriculturist, U. S. Department Agriculture, 
County Agent; Bedford County, Pa. 



Ladies and Gentlemen: I find I am down for three distinct talks. 
The programme says I am to speak about "The Farm Bureau; What 
It Is and What It Does." Mr. Calwell has asked me to tell something 
about the co-operative method of buying we have put into operation 
in my district. So, if you will send out for lunch for me, I hope to get 
through by evening. 

The Farm Bureau is comparatively new. I think we can date its 
start only three years back; it has really started practically within two 
years. 

We are just commencing to find ourselves and to realize what the 
thing means. 

The bulletin was not successful; it did not reach the men we were 
trying to get at. It seemed that the possibilities of getting with the 
farmer, on his own farm, and working there, were worth going into. 
Anyhow, to make a long story short, we have found out that this method 
of approaching the farmer is the method, I believe, of the future. 

The work must be done with the farmer on his own farm; there must 
be intimate touch between the agricultural expert and the farmer; there 
must be the consciousness that the work being done belongs to the man 
who is doing it, that the results of his toil are going to come to him, that 
the experiment belongs to him, is his absolutely, in order to stimulate 
better production, larger production and better methods on the farm. 
I believe in the long run we are going to carry to the farmer enormously 
valuable agricultural knowledge. 

We have been working with the farm as the unit of our work. The 
county agent goes to the individual farmer and works with him on his 
farm and tries to reorganize his entire method of working and of account- 
ing. He suggests better methods; he gets rid of antiquated implements, 
so as to make operations more profitable. And he sees that the plowing, 
harrowing and cultivation are done along modem lines. 

But we have been working with units, single farmers. We are com- 
mencing, I am glad to say, all over this country, to realize the possibility 
of assembling these units into larger units, of co-ordinating them for 
co-operative work in our districts. And an even broader view is already 
commencing to show itself in various sections of the country, as shown by 

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102 

the communications that are being received at Washington. There is on 
foot an effort not merely to have the men within the several districts 
co-operate among themselves, but to assemble them into larger units of 
co-operation. For instance, in our own state, it has only been within two 
months that one of our county men originated the idea of our communi- 
cating with each other, so that each would be informed of what the other 
had to sell and what he needed in the way of agricultural supplies. So 
that our work will not in the future simply relate to the individual county 
man nor to the development of the individual county, but we will work 
together, will help each other out. This is brand new in agriculture; its 
significance is hard to measure. 

I say that we are just beginning to find ourselves. It is suggestions 
of this sort that satisfy me that we are, in fact, just commencing to find 
ourselves. And this county agent plan, which Senator Gore said yester- 
day had extended rapidly and would be extended in the future as rapidly 
as possible until every county in the United States had its man, is going 
to mean a tremendous agricultural development. 

But the county agent himself is only commencing to realize his 
opportunities; and in the natural development of his county he is going 
to find opportunities which it is impossible to measure in their ultimate 
outcome. 

Take my own county, for instance. It normally divides itself into: 
(1) farm units; (2) then community units; (3) then larger marketing 
units. We have the community unit in Bedford County topographically 
divided into valleys and coves. Each valley and cove represents a cer- 
tain type of soil, with possibilities varying from the very highest to the 
very lowest found in Pennsylvania. 

In some of the sections, because of the topography, or on account of 
the conditions of soil, or both, the agricultural opportunity is about as 
poor as can be found in the state. On the other hand, some sections offer 
quite as good an opportunity as anything that can be found within the 
state. 

The county man, working through his county and studying it, can 
find out these conditions; and he will also find an opportunity to develop 
each particular district along normal producing lines. 

He will find that in a certain district somebody many years ago 
attempted to follow a line of farming that is not the best line for that 
particular district; and others followed his example. He will find com- 
munities in a tremendously hilly district, where the water problem is 
difficult and grass scarce, attempting to follow dairying, whereas they 
should be producing beef, pork and sheep. He will find other sections 
working in a regular rotation where dairying is the very best opportunity. 

As he gets, from his travels and observations, a comprehensive view, 
he will be possessed of information which will enable him to work out a 
synthetic plan for the organization of the units within his county. And 



103 

his influence in changing production, in diverting it to normal and profit- 
able lines, is going to be enormous. 

All of his field work is going, gradually but surely, to force that 
synthetic view upon him and enable him to do the work most needed by 
each community. 

In my district, originally consisting of six counties, there are probably 
400,000 acres of land today that is non-productive. All of this land is 
adapted to but one or two types of farming at a profit. One is meat 
production on lands which today are as bare of grass, almost, as this 
carpet, but which can be gotten into grass at small expense; the other is 
fruit, and fruit of the highest quality grown anywhere in the country. 

It is possible to swing that land back into production, to compel it 
to bear its share of the burden of feeding this nation. It is possible to 
do it, and we are going to do it in the long run. 

It is possible for the men in the more fertile districts, such as Chester 
County, who are not holding up their end of the game, to get their hills 
into grass. And where today there are practically no animals there could 
be raised animals to ship into Philadelphia and help supply Philadelphia 
with meat. 

There is there as elsewhere a tremendous synthetic possibility that 
today is not understood but will be tomorrow; and it is going to have a 
direct bearing on the total food supply of the nation. 

The Farm Bureau, as usually organized, is supported by three or four 
institutions, one the United States Department of Agriculture; another, 
State College, representing the agricultural side of the work; and the third, 
almost invariably, a chamber of commerce of some city that is located 
within the county. There is sometimes a fourth, the railroad or the rail- 
roads of the particular district. 

The county agent, when he takes hold of the county work, is 
promptly swallowed up by the farmers. They absorb all his time. Yet 
he is partly paid by the chamber of commerce of the city. 

What value is he giving to the city today for the money it is spending 
for his service? We have not found ourselves, but we are going to, on 
this proposition, too. 

The average county agent is not seriously undertaking to supply his 
local city with wholesome perishable products and to so standardize food 
as to make it a certainty in the markets; which it is just as much his 
duty to do as it is to increase production on the farms. 

He has not been doing this because he has been absorbed by the 
farmer. The farmers have been so anxious to avail themselves of his 
services that they have taken all his time; but he is going to realize, 
sooner or later, that part of his time must be devoted to the problems 
affecting the city; and for this reason. Go to any of the interior second- 
class cities in Pennsylvania in the summer time, and you will find the 
average produce and fruit exposed for sale in the groceries is stuff which 



104 

we in the country would hardly feed to a self-respecting hog. Altoona, 
Johnstown, Wilkes-Barre and other cities in our state today are supplied 
with food that has long since passed the state in which it is thoroughly 
wholesome. We must get the county man to help supply, in place of 
that, stuff which reaches the market in first-class condition. 

I have spoken at some length about the Farm Bureau and what it 
is doing. What it is going to do is another matter. It must reach out 
and cover this food supply proposition, not simply for its own district, but 
help to supply food for Philadelphia and other large cities. 

The question which confronts us today in Philadelphia is not simply 
the high cost of living, as that problem will solve itself when we have 
followed out the suggestions of Dr. Carver to standardize our stuff and 
ship it by more direct methods and procure from the present distributing 
agencies the service thej^ can give us if they will. We have another and 
quite as serious a problem, that of supplying the laboring man, who is 
the backbone of all our city institutions — of supplying him and his family 
not simply with cheap food, but with wholesome food; and we must give 
him what we might call a wider selective ration. His food must not be 
confined to a few articles, eaten day after day, but, so far as it is within 
his means, he must have a choice of a number of things from which to 
select his daily food. And this is not only because it is a question of 
health but also a question of efficiency in his work. 

He must have wholesome, palatable food, properly varied, to be 
contented; because a man, unless he is in a contented state of mind, 
unless his interior machinery is working smoothly, humming like a motor 
at its best, cannot do his best work. 

So the food supply reaches to the very foundation of things, involves 
the manufacturing efficiency of the unit and, for that reason, affects the 
commercial supremacy of the city. 

It is a question of such importance, viewed in this light, that every 
manufacturing interest in the city should take a strong interest in any 
effort to better the food supply of the city. They simply cannot afford 
to do otherwise. 

At the request of Mr. Calwell I want to describe to you briefly a 
method we are using in buying supplies for the farm. 

Our present system of agricultural education is strong in the middle 
and weak at both ends. We are training the farmer along lines of better 
and more economical production, striving to increase his crops; but no 
provision is made for training our men so that they will go into the field 
and teach the farmer how to buy effectively in order that he may produce 
more economically; and, at the other end, we are not training our men so 
that they can show the farmer how, when he has produced stuff for the 
market, to market it so that it will take its proper standing in the market 
and the farmer will get out of it what he is entitled to. We are not teach- 
ing him how to standardize and grade and pack and handle his stuff so 
that it will bring what it should. 



105 

We must find some means to educate -the men in the field for this 
work, because the farmers are commencing to demand that this phase of 
their work be looked after. That demand is going to grow, and we are 
going to have to meet it eventually. 

I don't believe very much in making new commercial machinery. 
I do not believe in experimenting where there is already machinery 
adapted for the work in hand. I do believe that there is now in existence 
plenty of machinery to handle all our problems both in buying and 
selling. 

The machinery that we use in our buying operations is perfectly 
well loiown to every merchant in Philadelphia, but as equally unknown 
to almost every farmer in the state. 

In our buying operations we use what is known as the negotiable 
bill of lading. 

When goods are shipped by the wholesaler they are always shipped 
in one of two ways. He either ships direct to the consignee, expecting to 
follow with a bill, so that the consignee can go to the freight station and 
get his freight the moment it arrives; or he ships to his own order, at 
destination, and draws on the consignee for the value of the goods, attach- 
ing to that draft the bill of lading. And in this latter case he uses the 
negotiable or order form bill of lading. To this bill of lading and draft 
he attaches an invoice or bill of the goods showing what has been shipped. 

The order form bill of lading represents the ownership of the prop- 
erty, and it must be endorsed the same as a promissory note and turned 
over to the buyer before the latter can get that freight. 

So the shipper sends the draft to the buyer's bank, with the bill of 
lading, representing ownership of the property, the buyer pays for the 
goods, secures the bill of lading and takes it and goes to the railroad and 
lifts his freight. 

It is extremely simple machinery. It protects the shipper because 
he receives from the buyer's bank the money to pay for the goods before 
the bill of lading, representing ownership of the property, is surrendered 
to the buyer. It protects the purchaser because the purchaser need not 
pay the draft, under our present system, until the freight arrives. Then, 
if he desires, he can inspect the property. And we buy on guaranty. 

It further protects the purchaser in the matter of his money to be 
paid for the purchase because that money never leaves his own home 
bank. Our local farmers' exchange will not handle any money; the 
member must deposit it in his own bank and that bank notifies the 
exchange, when sending the order, that the money has been deposited. 
So our plan offers the valuable service of bringing together the wholesaler 
and the consum^er. The operation carries with it almost no overhead 
expense, because we keep no books; we simply bring the wholesaler and 
consumer together. 

Last year we purchased under this plan, from March 1st until fall, 



106 

about $6,000, and this year about $12,000 worth of goods; and the work 
has gone through m splendid shape. 

We have not confined our work to Bedford County nor to the original 
six counties of my district. We have shipped, for instance, to Chester 
County. As a matter of fact, we have shipped stuff under our plan, 
or arranged for shipment of it, as far west as Kansas and as far south as 
Alabama. 

The plan is simple, direct, absolutely clean and economical to the 
last degree. We keep no books, because none are necessary. 

We have also a system of keeping track of all shipments made by 
wholesalers, a postal card advice from wholesalers giving the details of 
shipments, the car number, bill of lading number, date and all other 
information necessary to start a tracer in case the shipmeiit is delayed in 
transit. This postal card is mailed to us by the shipper at the time ship- 
ment is made. That same information is repeated by us on a postal 
card to our member, with instructions that if the freight has not arrived 
at a definite time stated on our postal, he is to notify us. Where such 
notice is received we start a tracer at our end and advise the shipper to 
start one at his end of the line. 

Two or three times we have had delayed shipments brought to book 
by tracers, and once we had a lost shipment that was never found. 

In case of lost shipments the exchange handles the claim, and also in 
case of damaged shipments. We have always had prompt adjustment of 
these claims. 

That, briefly, is our draft-attached-to-bill-of-lading plan, which we 
think is the best and most economical method of co-operative purchasing 
devised up to the present time. 

No such seed has ever been received in our district as that bought 
under our plan. I want to say that the cleanness of our plan has brought 
out of the wholesaler absolutely the best that is in him. Last year houses 
with which we had dealt for the last five or six years refused to quote the 
exchange prices on alfalfa seed, because they said it was not up to what 
they knew the exchange required. We have had that occur with three 
houses, a refusal to quote us prices on material which fell belOw the high 
standards we require. 

We never quote prices to our members on seed except it is the best 
the market offers, because the best seed is the cheapest. The question 
of price we regard as secondary. That is our purchasing plan. 

We are now at work on a development plan, using the Bedford 
Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad as a unit for the plan. We pro- 
pose to develop each part of the territory tributary to this division along 
normal and profitable lines of production. Our proposition is to stand- 
ardize all products from the very ground. We propose even to select the 
seed with a view to uniformity of product ; and we propose to standardize 
everything shipped. That plan is not in shape yet to talk very definitely 
about it. 



107 

Yesterday I was in conference with Mr. Kates, chairman of this 
meeting, and with several other gentlemen; and I was authorized to say- 
that the outlet so essential to our plans for production and standardizing 
products will be furnished in part through the earnest efforts of the best 
people in the City Hall, city officials, who have an earnest desire to for- 
ward a movement which means wholesome food, brought here and deliv- 
ered by more direct methods. 

This outlet, together with that to be furnished through the new 
bureau now under consideration, we believe will ultimately mean a serious 
reduction in the high cost of living, The furnishing of an adequate and 
safe outlet should stimulate production and curtail waste and thereby 
effect this reduction. 

Mrs. Smith: I have such an advertising kind of a mind that when 
a gentleman presents a fact that I feel ought to be shouted, I want to get 
up and shout. Last summer we were exactly in the position of these 
farmers that Mr. Ross told us about. He has not told you just exactly 
how serious a need the farmer has with regard to these seeds and fer- 
tilizers at better rates, owing to the fact that they cannot get them. 
Many do not want such stuff that the houses that furnish them will con- 
sider wholesale rates for. That time we were dealing with the problem 
for ourselves, having gone to a farm of our own which had always been a 
tenant farm, where the weeds had been grown along with the crops. We 
had not a bushel of oats, and we had not even any hay then and had to 
go to the mills, and there we found just what exists all over the country — 
that the big mills have the farmer by the throat and that is a fact. If 
there arb any farmers here they will tell you so, and to many of you 
business men it is a matter too deep for me to explain. Really, the man 
you like very much, your local miller, perhaps, has nothing to do with it. 
He is under the dictates of some larger scheme, but in some cases he is 
a very fair-minded man and discusses it with you, and sometimes puts 
up a trick as he did with me last summer, when I went to him and asked 
how much corn was a bushel. He said, "80 cents." I said, "How much 
do you want for cracked corn," and he said, "90 cents." Wasn't that 
kind to me, selling me cracked corn and only charging me ten cents for 
it? I said, "Just what do you do with the corn meal?" He said, 
"Nothing." A kind of a red glow went up over his face and he looked at 
me with a serious eye, I guess saying, "She is a deep one; she certainly 
gets me into things I didn't know I was going up against." He thought 
that I thought that the whole corn was there. Some of us do think that. 
They sell whole corn at 80 cents and sell cracked corn at 90 cents. What 
do they sell corn meal for? — $1.60 a hundred. 

We have with us Mr. Lardner Howell, of the Girard Trust Company, 
who is going to speak to us for a few moments on the "Trustee — Landlord 
and the Farm Bureau." It is interesting to those' who own farms to know 



108 

what the trust companies who have charge of their estates can do with 
farms. I am glad to testify personally to the fact that the Girard Trust 
Company has taken a novel and constructive attitude towards the whole 
farm question. It is very pleasant to know they are using experts, and I 
take pleasure in introducing Mr. Howell. 



TRUSTEE— LANDLORD AND THE FARM BUREAU. 



Lardner Howell, Esquire, 

Assistant Trust Officer, Girard Trust Company, Philadelphia. 



Girard Trust Company appreciates the courtesy of the invitation 
to join in the movement to bring to a better understanding the relationship 
between the country and the city, and not only the privilege of taking part 
in this programme, but the opportunity afforded to its tenant farmers by 
the Corn Exchange National Bank to participate in the corn contest. Six 
entries have been made by its tenant farmers. 

The company, in its fiduciary capacity, is steward of several farms, 
of which fourteen are located in the immediate vicinity of Philadelphia. 
In fulfilhng its duties as steward, it has had Mr. John M. Okie, of its Real 
Estate Department, co-operate with its tenant farmers for the past six 
or seven years. Bulletins issued by the government and state colleges 
have been distributed, and, by the able assistance of Professor Hayward 
of the Delaware State Experiment Station, practical demonstrations on 
several of its farms have been made, which have been of material assistance, 
not only to the farms visited, but as well to the adjoining properties; and, 
in addition, by these demonstrations a community interest has been 
awakened. Last spring Mr. Okie escorted a delegation of six or seven of 
the tenant farmers to the Delaware Experiment Station on Farmers' Day. 

With the advent of the county agent, it is felt that many vexing 
problems may be met, and the farms further developed by the close co- 
operation of the landlord, tenant farmer and county agent. 

The tenant farmer has many responsibilities, and has not at his com- 
mand, as has a president of a bank or trust company, the assistance of its 
officers and corps of efficient bookkeepers to work out the problems arising 
from day to day. He alone meets the situation. In his position he is 
independent and, by the fact of his independence, is very dependent. 

Efficiency is one of the largest assets a farmer can accumulate, and 
with the assistance of the farm agent this efficiency may be obtained. For 
example, much time and labor are lost in tilling small fenced-in fields, and 
it may be shown that part of this work is unnecessary and could be avoided 
under proper direction, and also that, by making conditions sanitary, the 
dairyman may be able to obtain a higher price for his products. The 
landlord, in co-operating with his tenant with this end in view, is thereby 
not only more certain of the collection of the rent, but is, by this co-opera- 
tion, aiding in the producing of the rent and assisting in making his tenant 
of value to the community. 

(109) 



no 

Mes. Smith: The point of view presented just now was exceedingly- 
interesting, especially as it is suited to the city man who needs broader 
points of view on the farm question. As you know yourselves, nobody but 
a man who is used to farming and handling farms all the time can very 
often work out these problems regarding the farm. 

We have got some farmers here today, and I would like to ask them 
what they think of the Six County Farmers' Exchange that Mr. Ross 
spoke about. We have a few moments for discussion, and I would like to 
hear some of the farmers say a word on the need of " buying-associations " 
in farm districts. We have got some men here who are actual farmers, 
who know all about the ins and outs of farming. I would like to hear from 
those gentlemen. What do they think — that the farmers need to get 
together on the buying proposition? 

Dr. J. Russell Smith: I cannot pose as an expert farmer, but I 
happened to get to a place where the Six County Farmers' Association was 
doing business. I wanted to get some beans and I wanted about eight 
bushels. I did not know what kind I needed and I did not know where to 
buy them. I asked them to tell me what kind and where to buy them. I 
signed a slip, paid a quarter, got good beans and I saved about two dollars 
on the transaction besides the saving of time. It was a very profitable 
transaction to me. 

Mrs. Garrett: I am not a farmer. My husband, who is a farmer, 
has gone out and I wish he were here to tell you this. I wish somebody 
had bought our alfalfa seed last summer. I think if we had advertised 
through the farm bureau, it would have been a very good thing for the 
Garrett family. 

Mrs. Smith: I understood that the farmers all over the state can join 
and that arrangement can be made whereby carloads of fertilizers. and seeds 
can come to our local districts. 

Mr. Ross: It is all a wholesale business, no matter what we order. 
There are two advantages: in the first place, by getting enough to buy in 
carload lots you get the carload rate; in the second place, when you buy 
them they are all shipped together. Where a number of neighbors get 
together, one man can go and bring it all back instead of all of them. 

Mrs. Garrett: Can we get lime from your organization? 

Mr. Ross: In Chester County they have their own lime. 

Mrs. Smith : The lime as a community proposition is one of the things 
we hope to take up at the meeting, because it is a question of development 
and transportation. Mr, Prouty, of the Interstate Commerce Commission, 
was to speak on that question, but the sudden death of a member of the 
Commission placed added duties of the Commerce Commission on him, 
and he could not get awaj' from Washington. I am very sorry. 



Ill 

I have been closely in communication with some of the lime dealers, 
because I am interested in knowing the length of time it takes to make it 
right. I was born right next to a lime quarry, so I do not know what 
other people do who do not have lime quarries next door to them. I find 
in several sections of the country they send hundreds of miles for lime. 
It seems to me that it is a terrible condition to be without lime. It takes 
a railroad about a year and a half to make a rate on lime for a certain 
section. It seems to take all the red tape that there is in the railroad 
business — ^that is, with some railroads. Some are more efficient. I have 
been waiting to find out how long it would take a railroad to make a rate 
between our section of the country and Poughkeepsie, N. Y. I think 
they have been at it about eight months now. That is one of the questions 
that we want to take up here, but I hope there will be time later. Time 
is moving on and we have got to cut this short. We want to hear Mr. 
Don Blair speak to us on the question on increasing grain production. 

Mr. Kates will offer a suggestion at this point. 

Mr. Kates: I want to read again the two closing paragraphs in the 
editorial that I read to you this morning. In view of what you have 
heard, I would hope that some action might be expressed in the nature of a 
resolution, which I have here. I believe that if this resolution was endorsed 
by those that are present here, that we could establish a foothold for the 
work in Philadelphia such as has been indicated by Mr. Ross in his able 
presentation of the work he has in hand, which, as you will remember, 
has the endorsement of the United States Department of Agriculture. 
What I said early this morning I thought was a challenge. 

Editorial referred to and read by Mr. Kates earlier in the session is 
as follows: 

The Corn Show: Will It Help Producer and Consumer? 
(Public Ledger, December 5, 1913) 

"President Calwell and the Corn Exchange National Bank are to be 
congratulated upon the initiation of what is called their Corn Show. 
This conference and exhibit is much broader in its activities than the 
attempt to stimulate farmers to grow two ears of corn where one grew be- 
fore; it is the beginning of a movement to make the food supply plentiful 
and cheap; to help the farmer by aiding him to help the consumer; to 
bring the two classes together with directness and to eliminate, if not all 
middlemen, at least some of the intervening profit-takers. 

The originators of the Corn Show have enhsted the hearty co-operation 
of the great educational institutions of the state, practically every trade 
body and commercial instrumentality of the city, the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road Company and improvement and other pubfic spirited organizations. 
They propose to form a plan of action which shall provide better marketing 



112 

facilities, for quick transportation, for the uplift of the producer of food 
stuffs, for market bureaus to help along the produce from the farm to the 
household and, finally, as specific instrumentalities to those ends, to insti- 
tute a farm bureau in this city which shall act as a clearing house for the 
farmers of this and the two contiguous states. 

The consumer is to have the means of dealing with the farmer. The 
Corn Show and its eventual bureau are not to be agencies to teach 
farmers how to grow crops; other agencies are engaged in that work, 
but they propose to help the farmer by bringing him into instant and 
profitable contact with the consumers and from that profitable conjunc- 
tion the farming interest will receive its stimulus and ample reward. 

Let us hope the projectors will actually accomplish something. The 
meetings are instructive and interesting; but there have been so many 
meetings and so many pamphlets, speeches and prospectuses that an 
anxious and suspicious world has arrived at the point of demanding some 
concrete result. 

The Corn Show and the activities of its public-spirited, enthusiastic 
supporters will prove a failure if the project shall not be pursued to the 
logical end of attaining some practical result, but if only a beginning shall 
be made in bringing a few farmers with their butter and other produce 
to the doors of a few consumers they will perform more than scores of 
similar movements which ended in mere talk. 

Let Philadelphia try one experiment; let it open the way from the 
farm to the city household; let it make one successful step in quickening 
and cheapening transportation; let it institute one new market or cajole 
one little band of genuine producers into dealings with consumers, and 
then it will actually prove of benefit." 

I therefore present this resolution, which I very much hope will 
receive your endorsement. 

''That the officers, who have presided at the Corn Show and the 
Agricultural Conference, form a committee of eleven to bring before the 
appropriate city department and the consuming public the means or 
possible method of taking some action towards bringing the farmer into 
better and closer relation with the city consumer." 

While I recognize the informality of an endorsement such as you will 
give, I wish to say that if you will endorse this, it will be of extreme value 
towards carrying it to a definite conclusion. I see Dr. King here, who is 
an authority on these matters, and I know he has carried on some investi- 
gations for one of the departments of the city somewhat along these lines. 
Will Dr. King be good enough to indicate whether the appropriate depart- 
ment we would propose to approach with this committee would receive 
us with satisfaction, or would it be distasteful? An answer from you 
would probably guide us towards a closer solution. 



113 

Dr. King: I have undertaken several studies of giving help to the 
Philadelphia consumer, and every indication seems to point to the fact 
that a bureau such as the chairman suggests would be of inestimable 
value, if it did nothing more than give the farmer the information that the 
farmer wants in marketing his produce, and to get to the consumer some 
of the information the consumer would be glad to receive. I am very 
sure that any department that would be approached on this subject by 
such an assemblage as this would receive such a suggestion most heartily 
indeed. 

Mr. Kates: Mr. Ross, have you anything to say in relation to this 
resolution? 

Mr. Ross: I would like to carry something of that sort to my people. 
They are ready to produce, but they feel that the outlet for what they 
produce is hard to find. If such a step as this were taken in Philadelphia, 
I am satisfied that Philadelphia would be the objective jjoint for the 
produce. 

Mr. Kates: It would also serve New Jersey, Delaware and Mary- 
land, as well as Pennsylvania and even a wider radius. I now will 
present this resolution and ask your endorsement to be indicated by rais- 
ing your hand. I really feel that this is a somewhat serious moment, and 
if you take it seriously I trust that you will endorse it. I will repeat the 
resolution: 

[Resolution again read.] 

Does this resolution meet with your endorsement? If so, will you 
kindly express it by the uplifted hand? 

[The resolution was unanimously adopted.] 

Mr. Kates: I thank you very much in the name of all of us who 
have been concerned with organizing this conference. 

Mrs. Smith: You will remember the allusion yesterday to the 
remarkable seed work being done in Denmark for the protection of seeds. 
I want you to know that Mr. Don Blair is one of the few men of this 
country who is carrying on, on his own hook and through his own 
endeavors, the seed-breeding work in Illinois. That is one of the most 
remarkable pieces of work being done along these lines in this country. 
It has been known to only a few people, but he is a man of great experi- 
ence along these lines and has a remarkable work to show you fiiis morn- 
ing and has slides illustrating his work. I take great pleasure in intro- 
ducing to you Mr. Don Blair. 



INCREASING GRAlN iPRODUCTION. 



By Don Blair, 

Sugar Grove, 111. 



There is but little question that the matter of increasing grain pro- 
duction is of vital importance not only to the agi'icultural public but to 
the commonwealth as a whole. 

Our farmers in the Middle West, especially, have been exceedingly 
worried in the last few years, in the endeavor to make the owning of 
two and three hundred dollar per acre land a pajdng investment and to do 
this from year to year by practicing general farming. The failure in this 
has resulted in a widespread movement towards better farming. More 
net returns per acre tilled is the one thought uppermost in the minds of 
both the thinking farmer and his city cousin. This tendency towards 
better agricultural practice has become so widespread that it is being 
taken up by all classes, from the richest in the land to the poorest, and 
in no other period in the growth of this country has such an interest been 
taken in the farmer and his results. 

Naturally there is the usual follo^\Tng of faddists and as a result, 
unfortunately, people of this class often occupy more of the limelight 
than the more serious, conscientious workman. Hearsay utterances 
based on plausible theories have done much to retard systematic develop- 
ment. Many theories have been built on a veritable foundation of sand 
and by constant repetition have been calmly accepted as proven facts. 
Thus, the farmer who ultimately tries them all out is becoming somewhat 
skeptical of things new. However, I beheve that we are rapidly passing 
through this stage of theoretical fancies and are now reaching the second 
stage of agricultural improvement or that of practical common-sense 
bettering of conditions, based on proven facts. Consequently, there will 
be fewer theories advanced and more practical results obtained. 

Increased gTain production is essential and is comparatively easy of 
accomphshment. System is the greatest need. It is the httle things 
that wdll make the difference. If the average farmer could have as clear 
an understanding of the business of farming as the manufacturer has of 
his business and, further, if the farmer would pay as strict attention to 
details as the same manufacturer, a wonderful increase in net return 
would be the result. 

It is true that very little is known by the average farmer relative 
to the plants grown commercially on his farm; taking this as a depart- 
ment practically no attention has been given it as compared with the 

(114) 



115 

Livestock Department. We recognize that plant and animal life are 
identical and the laws that govern one must necessarily govern the other. 
We further beheve that the chief object of the parents hving is to produce 
offspring and to give these offspring a fair start in life. The simple little 
things have not been understood by the average farmer such as the 
flower,, structure of the different plants, their method of reproduction and 
the interior structure of the plants. Such knowledge is in order that he 
may be sure of the adaptation of different plants to different soils and 
climatic conditions. 

I am very much afraid that we have been endeavoring to teach a 
more complicated system of practice before a systematic foundation has 
been established. We should start at the beginning mth agricultural 
advice much the same as a child is started in the primary grades and not 
with the latest theories of any accepted authority. 

The factors most essential in increased grain production are the 
seed, preparation of the seed bed, crop rotation and the chemical and 
physical condition of the soil. 

The matter of seed: each variety must necessarily be adapted to the 
soil and climatic conditions where it is to be grown. Every condition 
favorable to the growth of the plant must be provided for and this can 
only be done from intimate knowledge with the qualifications and needs 
of the various varieties, as adapted to each and every kind of soil and 
climatic condition. In grains our variety classification at the present 
time is uncertain, one variety is found masquerading under any number 
of names with no system whatsoever. The farmer in the northern part 
of the country may be growing a variety of oats which he presumes to be 
the Swedish Select and adapted to his particular section but for some 
reason or another the variety he is growing will not produce successfully 
and upon investigation it may be found that he is growing a variety quite 
different from that which the name implies and not in any way adapted 
to his conditions. 

The first essential thing then in the matter of seed is a systematic 
classification of varieties. This classification when made should be pub- 
lished repeatedly and widely, together with a complete description of 
each variety and the soil and climatic conditions in which it is best 
adapted. This is fundamental and no systematic development can be 
made until this is done. Allowing then that we have a known variety 
adapted to soil and climatic conditions under which we are operating and 
knowing further the weaknesses and strength of the particular soil on 
which the crop is to be grown, the first step is accomplished and next 
comes the preparation of the seed for seeding. 

We have found from our own experience after repeated trials that 
the matter of grading seed is not of such great importance as many 
believe. While it is an important thing that seed be graded in order to 
eliminate weed seeds and immature grains, there is not the large difference 



116 

noted in the relative productivity between the largest, plumpest kernels 
and the smaller or medium sized kernels of the same variety. 

That which is most essential, however, is that the exact parentage 
of the seed be known, in other words, ancestry is of far greater importance 
than the relative size of the seed itself. The germ plays a greater part 
in the ultimate commercial worth of the plant than the amount of plant 
food contained within the seed. Therefore, while we like to plant nice 
large kernels, they need not necessarily be the plumpest or the largest, 
but they must be free from weed seeds. There is no use whatsoever in 
repeatedly planting the same weed seeds year after year, they come easy 
enough without planting. 

The preparation of the seed bed should be given much attention; 
conditions differ, of course, in different parts of the country, but in the 
main the more finely pulverized, the more mellow the seed bed the better 
the chances of a maximum crop. Harrow and re-harrow repeatedly, for 
every harrowing will add to the crop. 

The matter of seeding is also of importance. We have preferred 
using a single disk drill, although it is not necessary. Just as good 
results have been secured from broadcasting, but drilling will give a 
greater advantage in a dry season owing to a more even placing and 
covering of the seed. 

The rate of seeding is essential; it is always our practice with oats 
in particular to plant rather thickly, from three to four bushels per acre. 
We do this largely to prevent stoohng or tillering. Although large heads 
are generally secured on the stools, still the berry produced on the stool 
will in turn produce a weaker plant than the berry from the parent stalk 
and ultimately will result in deterioration of the crop from year to year. 
Further, by elimination of stools, early ripening, more even growth and a 
less proportion of by-product or straw, a greater proportion of salable 
product or oats is secured. We would much prefer the complete elimina- 
tion of stooling if for no other reason than to secure a practically com- 
plete control of the crop. From so many berries planted of a certain 
germination so many plants will be secured and only so many, and the 
matter of uncertainty with reference to stand would be done away with. 

With wheat we prefer planting from one and a half, to one bushel and 
three pecks and barley from two to two and a half bushels per acre. 

One of the main difficulties with oats has been that plants are 
caught in the so-called milk stage by warm dry weather and the filhng 
of the berry is seriously interfered with. But by using a variety adapted 
and planting early in the spring the plants will be over this stage before 
they are injured by the hot weather. 

Crop rotation and intensive farming are as important as any other 
departments. It is useless to presume that we can secure maximum 
returns by continually cropping year after year without a change. One 
crop must follow another in such a way as to leave the soil in the best 



117 

possible condition for the succeeding crop. This naturally varies with 
each section of the country but in its essentials is much the same all over. 
A cultivated crop should be followed by small grain and this in turn 
followed by a legume or nitrogen restoring crop. 

Intensive farming can never be practiced until the acreage operated 
by the individual is cut down to smaller size. We try to farm too much 
by scratching it over rather than doing a little and doing it well. 

As a matter of illustration of the results to be obtained from follow- 
ing carefully the above-named points I have in mind two farmers living 
side by side who this last year secured the same seed from the same source 
and one by "slipshod rule of thumb" methods secured thirty-two bushels 
of oats per acre and the other, a wide-awake up-to-date business farmer, 
secured seventy bushels per acre. The reason for the difference is simple 
and is accounted for from the systematic intelligent business methods of 
one as compared with a haphazard trust to Providence methods of the 
other. I could give numerous illustrations to the same thing but my 
contention is, merely, that the simple things, such as the seed, prepara- 
tion of same, seed bed and condition of soil can all be easily governed by 
the individual operator and will make the difference between farming at a 
profit and farming at a loss. 

One point that I wish to make most emphatic is the classification of 
varieties. This alone will result in astounding increase in production. 
Provided no other way for this classification could be evolved I would 
be in favor of placing it under government supervision and that no new 
variety of grain may be allowed introduction to the American public 
without being accompanied with a guarantee pedigree. 

This same principle should not only apply to small grain but corn 
as well. The selection of seed, adaptation to conditions under which it 
is to be grown and seed bed are as thoroughly fundamental in this as in 
small grain and we cannot hope to secure maximum returns until a 
systematic form of educational campaign is carried on. The principles of 
instruction should be agreed upon by all known and accepted authorities. 
It is useless for a dozen theories to be advanced on the same subject by a 
like number of authorities. It confuses the farmer, as he is not in a 
position to recognize the standing of one authority against another and 
is more liable to follow the teaching of the wrong one. Those who have 
the little knowledge are generally the loudest in advancing their theories. 
It results in further harm by antagonizing the farmer against future 
development. We will take for example the rate of seeding, it does not 
require a diligent search to find every possible rate of seeding advised and 
after reading some of the suggestions it is difficult to believe that the 
theories are established on actual results. 

Among other things incident to increased grain production is the 
seed plat. Every farm big or small should have a few acres set aside for 
growing the seed for the coming year. By this means it is possible to 



118 

secure the very best seed obtainable and by looking ahead one year maxi- 
mum production seed for the crop to follow is obtained. Change seed 
frequently. This year the seed patch may be used for corn, next year 
for oats and so on every year procuring a small amount of some kind of 
seed; thus keeping the seed patch constantly busy. 

Seed should, by all means, be tested for germination before planting, 
not only must ''test your seed corn" be a motto but test all seeds; this 
is the only way that we can definitely decided the rate of seeding. 

Another great field for increased grain production and one which has 
been touched but little is that of plant breeding; from results so far 
obtained we can see a wonderful future to be accomplished by this work. 
Only a beginning has been made, the varieties now grown can be com- 
pared with scrub livestock and when one stops to consider the wonderful 
stride made in hvestock breeding we can realize the future ahead for the 
plant breeder. With this in view, twenty years from now we will expect 
to see double the production per acre as now obtained. 

The work of breeding for a convenience of classification has been 
divided into four divisions; namely, selection which is not in its truest 
sense breeding but is purely the selection year after year of heads or 
ears whether grain or corn with the idea to increase the productiveness 
of the particular strain grown. No blood lines whatsoever are interfered 
with and but very little progress can be made. 

Second division is known as regeneration or breeding within a variety 
and consists of the selection of two strains of the same variety which 
have been grown under different soil and climatic conditions and com- 
bining the blood of these. The idea involved is that of regenerating the 
particular variety bred. 

Third is known as simple crossing and is the crossing of two distinct 
varieties. Considerable improvement can be made with the practice of 
simple crossing. The results have been hmited in favor of the fourth 
division or composite crossing, which is the infusing of the blood of three 
or more varieties into a single berry by a series of simple crosses. In 
the second or third generation from the berries so procured a maximum 
number of types are secured to select from by the breaking down of the 
blood lines of this multiple of varieties. 

For example, we will start with eight varieties of oats the first year, 
we have four simple crosses and in the next stage two simples crosses and 
finally but one cross and the blood of all the original eight varieties are 
combined into the result of this last cross. By planting this any number 
of new and distinct types are ready for selection purposes. Breeding, 
once understood, is comparatively easy of accomphshment but takes 
considerable time and patience to produce results. However, bearing in 
mind again the enormous strides that have been made with animal breed- 
ing, to say that plant breeding is worth while is to say but little. It will 
be but a short while until the plant breeder, given time, can fill almost 
any order. 



119 

In a brief resume then, there are really three forms of increasmg 
grain production : one is following the simple common-sense rules already- 
known relative to selection of seed, seed bed, rate of seeding, etc.; 
second, of which httle is laiown, is the improvement by means of breeding, 
but most important and our greatest need at the present time is system. 

[The morning session at this point adjourned until 2 p. m.] 



Friday, December 5, 1913, 2 p. m. 



Honorary Chairman, Alba Johnson, Esquire, President, Baldwin Loco- 
motive Works. 

Mr. Johnson: Whatever draws the city and country closer together 
makes for the welfare of both, and also means for the farmer more money, 
for the railroads more traffic, and for the community lower prices. 

The broader problems connected with the production, transportation 
and distribution of food products, will bring about more intelhgent laws, 
and will conduce, therefore, to the welfare of both the producer and of the 
consumer. 

That in a general way as I understand it is the underlying thought 
which prompts this conference. 

The first speaker upon the programme for this afternoon is the Honor- 
able Charles A. Prouty, of the Interstate Commerce Commission, who was 
to have spoken upon the subject of "Agricultural Freight as a Means of 
Rural Development." Commissioner Prouty is a man of such ripe knowl- 
edge upon the freight subject, pertaining to transportation, that it is 
a serious disappointment to us that his official duties in Washington, 
caused by sudden removal by death of certain members of the Interstate 
Commerce Commission, has made it impossible for him to be present, and 
therefore we shall not have the pleasure of listening to his address. 

Chairman, Mrs. Smith: The first address of the afternoon will be 
one upon the subject of "Municipal Markets" by Hon. Cyrus C. Miller. 

Hon. Cyrus C. Miller, Chairman, Mayor of New York's Commit- 
tee on Municipal Markets and President of the ' Borough of the Bronx : I 
propose to talk to you on the subject of "Municipal Terminal Markets," 
amplifying the thought that our intensive farming, and the larger areas 
which are now planted with fruit trees and crops, foretell a very serious 
danger not only to the people who are doing the planting but to the people 
in the cities who ought to get the results of what is planted. In other 
words, we are threatened with overproduction unless we increase our 
terminal and distribution facilities, as well as our production. 

I shall be very glad to answer any questions if time allows after I have 
finished my address. 



THE NECESSITY FOR TERMINAL MARKETS. 



By Hon. Cyrus C. Miller, 

President of the Borough of the Bronx; Chairman of the Mayor's Market 
Commission of the City of New York. 



A witness before the Mayor's Market Commission of New York 
City recently testified that there were enough peach trees in the orchards 
of western New York to produce a crop of 10,000 carloads of peaches in 
five or six years. Fifteen years ago Delaware shipped out 9,000 cars 
of peaches in one year and a few years ago Georgia shipped out 7,200 
carloads. 

In a recently published newspaper article I read that the apple crop 
in the Northwest for 1913 was approximately 10,000 cars of fruit; by 
1916 they estimate that the output will be at least 30,000 cars, and by 
1920, a total of 60,000 cars. At present prices this will mean finding a 
market for $51,000,000 worth of fruit. Other districts throughout the 
country during the past ten years have been planted in large areas with 
fruit and other food products which must be distributed among the cities 
and towns. The population of the cities has grown apace in the same 
period, but their markets have not kept pace either with the increase 
in production nor the potential increase in consumption. Producers' 
associations, railroads and middlemen are effecting the best distribution of 
crops possible with the means at their command, but in the cities the best 
means available today are the makeshifts that survive a simpler system. 
There is a great necessity for modern terminal markets if the distribution 
of food products in the cities is to be helped. What is the use of raising 
vast quantities of foodstuffs if they cannot be distributed? Bankruptcy 
confronts owner and consumer alike unless our distributing facilities keep 
pace with our production. The farmer, the banker, the railroad man, 
are interested in the first part of the problem; namely, getting the food 
to the cities. The city man is interested in bringing the food into and dis- 
tributing it within the city. 

The question of city markets is a vital one not only to people in the 
cities but also to the farmers of the country, for all production must 
have an outlet or it ceases to be profitable, and cities must be supplied with 
food at reasonable prices or cease to exist. In many cities today the chan- 
nels of marketing are so badly clogged that they offer obstacles rather than 
inducements to shippers. On the other hand, we hear constantly of good 
food spoiling on the farms of the country because it does not pay to market 
it by our cumbersome and expensive methods. 

(120) 



121 

The railroads of the country are confronted ^\^th a constant mcrease 
in freight traffic for which they have great difficulty in providing the neces- 
sary terminal facifities. A report of the forty-nine railroads of the north- 
eastern section of the country, pubhshed in the New York Times of Decem- 
ber 4, 1913, says that between 1903 and 1912 "railway traffic, both freight 
and passenger, increased much faster than the facilities for handling 
either, . . . The freight trafiic increased 53 per cent, and the passen- 
ger traffic, 42 per cent, as compared with an increase of 17 per cent in 
population," of the section served by these lines. In 1903 these roads 
were operating 55,706 miles of line. From 1903 to 1912 they increased 
their mileage 6| per cent and their double trackage, 15| per cent. Daniel 
Willard, president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, in 
commenting upon the situation said, ''The immediate and all-important 
question is: How shall these railroads obtain the new capital necessary 
if they are to provide the needed facilities and furnish the high-class service 
which the public interest demands, and to which the public is properly 
entitled?" In the distribution of food products to the cities, in which 
the railroads play so large and so increasingly important a part, it is not 
only a question of the ''service to which the public is entitled," but of 
pressing public necessity, that there should be in the cities terminal mar- 
keting facilities for the receipt and speedy distribution of foodstuffs. 

The interest of the city in terminal markets is identical with that of 
the country and the railroads, the function of a proper market being two- 
fold- — to distribute foodstuffs mthin the city, and to encourage the growth 
and transportation of foodstuffs to the city. Unimpeded distribution to 
and mthin the city will cause greater consumption of food products because 
prices will be lower. It wdll encourage the farmer to produce more because 
he is sure of a good market. The unit price of what he sends to market 
will be lower, but there will be no waste and the aggregate return for the 
larger quantity grown will net him a larger profit. 

One of the greatest benefits of good markets to the farmer will be 
that they will change his occupation from the hazardous guesswork it is 
now to a steady business at moderate prices upon which he can rely. 
It is of no benefit to a farmer to get a high price for a part of his crop and 
nothing for the rest of it. It will pay him better to sell it all at a compara- 
tively low price. With the hit-or-miss methods of marketing now in vogue, 
a farmer must guess from year to year whether his product is to find a 
ready market or whether there will be a glut or whether there will be a 
scarcit3^ His business is speculative in the extreme. On the other hand, 
if the demand could be estimated and supplied through adequate distribut- 
ing facilities, the danger of gluts would be minimized greatly. 

Our recent studies of market conditions in New York have disclosed 
the fact that the city draws its supplies from Avorld-wide sources: for 
instance, potatoes, from various parts of this country, Scotland, Ireland 
and Belgium; onions, from our o^m farms, Bermuda, Italy, Spain and 



122 

Egypt; oranges, lemons, melons, cherries, etc., from California, Florida 
and other states, the West Indies, and Mediterranean ports, and so on. 
And it is more or less the case with every large city of the country. As 
an example of conditions, Mr. Frank Andrews, of the United States 
Department of Agriculture, states that in 1912 Kansas City's lettuce 
supply was taken from nearby fields, from California, Florida, New York, 
Louisiana, Colorado, Texas and Arkansas, and possibly other states. 

The initiative that the railroads take in widening the distribution 
of crops is perhaps not generally appreciated. They do a useful work in 
finding new markets for producers, even going so far as inducing merchants 
in cities to import new commodities. An increase of distribution of North 
Carolina strawberries was made, from 400 cars to 12 markets in a year, to 
3,200 ears to 82 markets, nine years later, due chiefly to the initiative 
taken by a railroad in suggesting markets and helping to widen the dis- 
tribution of the crop. It is of course to the railroad's interest to do this, 
but it is equally to the interest of producer and consumer. 

Because of the insignificant supply of foodstuffs grown in the vicinity 
of New York, that city is perhaps an extreme example of a city which 
depends altogether upon distant sources for its food supplies. Other 
cities are supplied to a greater degree by nearby products, but it may be 
stated as a rule that all American cities depend largely for their supphes 
upon distant sources. This may be because of location in an unproductive 
area, or a short season of local production, but chiefly because all American 
cities demand a greater variety of food than the local area can produce. 

The possibility, which is of comparatively recent development, of 
shipping highly perishable articles under refrigeration, by fast freight, 
to distant markets, has lengthened the seasons when vegetables and fruits 
are in market. The farm produce of South Carolina and Kansas can 
reach New York as easily today as could that of Long Island and West- 
chester County a few years ago. There was a time, as was stated by a 
witness before the Market Commission last spring, when the season in 
New York for strawberries was only six weeks long. Now we start in with 
Florida strawberries in February and have them until the middle of July 
from northern New York. In July the same cars after refrigeration are 
taking berries south from northern producing states that in May were 
taking them from North Carolina to those same points. Such things as 
string beans, tomatoes and lettuce are in market practically throughout 
the year. 

With the shipping of perishable goods long distances by rail, the car- 
load has come to be the recognized shipping unit, because of the ease of 
handling unbroken carloads with dispatch, as compared with less than 
car-lot freight. Mr. Andrews has collected data from 42 cities showing that 
from 1900 to 1910 there was an increase of 40 per cent in the number of 
car-lot markets for highly perishable fruits and vegetables. '^ Practically 
every city in the ITnited States," he says, ''of 25,000 population or more. 



123 

and possibly many smaller ones, can consume within a few days a carload 
of one or more kinds of highly perishable fruits or vegetables. According 
to the report of one of the large merchant shippers of Jacksonville, Florida, 
in 1912 car-lot shipments of Florida produce were made to 210 different 
cities, located in 46 states. This number includes most all of the cities 
of this country having a population of at least 25,000. " 

This being so, it may be seen at a glance that the real problem before 
the country today is not so much the growing of foodstuffs as their economic 
collection, transportation and distribution. In some ways the develop- 
ment of good methods of cultivation has already gone ahead of the develop- 
ment of good methods of marketing. From the moment the goods are 
placed on board the cars or boat, the question is one of distribution. In 
most of our cities the distribution of foodstuffs is primarily a railroad 
question, so that the market best fitted for the assembling and marketing 
of provisions in the city is the wholesale railroad terminal market, into 
which and out of which run as many railroad lines as possible. 

Such markets should be large in size so that there will be provision 
for a considerable expansion of the present trade, and so that as large a 
number of buyers and sellers as possible may meet in them. They should 
be supplied with refrigeration, so that goods, arriving in refrigerated cars 
may not suffer from exposure to harmful temperatures, and so that surplus 
may be kept without deterioration. They should have ample unloading 
platforms and storage space, aS well as exhibition and selling space. In 
each market one or more licensed city auctioneers should be stationed to 
dispose of goods consigned directly to the market. 

The object of any market should be to facilitate distribution by bring- 
ing producer and consumer a step closer together, and though the form of 
market may differ widely according to the conditions in the city it is to 
serve, the principle of the thing is everywhere the same: the best type 
of market for any city is the terminal market, adapted to the nature of 
the carrier which brings the food products, whether such carrier be farm 
wagon, freight trolley, railroad or boat. The market at the terminal makes 
for the elimination of waste in handling and for a better articulation of all 
the processes of distribution. Such a market in a city should be in the 
control of a market department or official, to publish daily bulletins of 
the quantity, quality and prices of foodstuffs in the market and in other 
ways make the system efficient. 

It must be recognized that the best methods of marketing our crops 
requires the co-operation of our farmers, shippers, railroads and market 
men. No one of these forces, no matter how well organized, is sufficient 
in itself to effect the desired end. The Federal Government has realized 
the necessity of the co-ordination of these various forces. The last session 
of the Sixty-second Congress made an appropriation of $50,000, of which 
$10,000 was available immediately, ''to enable the Secretary of Agriculture 
to acquire and to diffuse* among the people of the United States useful 



124 

information on subjects connected with the marketing and distributing 
of farm products, and for the employment of persons and means necessary 
in the city of Washington and elsewhere." 

At a meeting held in the Department of Agriculture on April 29, 1913, 
Mr. G. Harold Powell, general manager of the California Fruit Growers' 
Exchange, made the following valuable suggestions for the work of the 
department : 

" (1) Determine the principles on which farmers' business organiza- 
tions can be successfully founded and operated. 

''(2) Work out the principles of law which should be incorporated 
in state and federal legislation and which would permit the proper organiza- 
tion and conduct of farmers' associations. 

"(3) Study the distribution of farm crops as practiced by farmers' 
organizations and other agencies in order to determine the weaknesses, the 
wastes in distribution, the abuses and extravagances of the distributing 
system, and illegal practices, if such exist, and as a result set forth the 
principles of state and federal legislation which would define the functions 
of the various distributing agencies, correct such abuses as legislation can 
reach, define and set forth the principles of co-operative organizations, and 
assist the farmers in the formation of their organizations. 

" (4) Help the farmers after they are organized to develop a system 
by which they can secure for themselves better information regarding crop 
conditions, the movement of crops, the supply in different markets, and the 
daily prices, this information to supplement the general data which the 
department may furnish the public. 

" (5) Investigate the methods of handling, grading, packing and pre- 
paring farm crops for market, to bring about a greater uniformity and to 
correct the abuses which now cause a large proportion of the trouble in 
the dealings of the producer with the distributing agencies." 

When this is done the work of co-ordinating the forces outside the cities 
may be said to be under way. Important as this work is, it must fail 
unless the distributing facilities in the cities are co-ordinated so that they 
may take care of the produce which the farmers send to them, without 
uncertainty, waste and loss. 

Producers' associations are likely to be successful where the country 
in which they operate produces a single staple crop, their efforts being to 
market their products and to see that they are graded and packed properly. 
It is somewhat difficult for a producers' association to flourish in a locality 
where many different sorts of crops are produced. It might be well, there- 
fore, for studies to be made in different localities for the purpose of finding 
out the most profitable crops for the neighborhoods and urging the farmers 
to confine themselves to them. Co-operative associations among the 
consumers in the cities have not been very successful in this country because 
of the individualistic tendencies of the people, which prevent them from 
co-operating easily, and the fact that cash payments are displeasing to 



125 

many of our city dwellers. Nor does it appear necessary that there should 
be co-operative buying in the cities if proper facilities can be given in the 
primary wholesale markets to the retailers who do the final distributing. 
The increased cost of food is causing alarm, and there appears to be no 
likelihood that meats will decrease in price for some years to come, if ever. 
This will necessitate a greater consumption as time goes on of farm pro- 
duce. The danger will be, unless means are taken to distribute all that is 
raised, that there will be over-production and consequent gluts. The 
Secretary of Agriculture has suggested that the market service in the 
Department of Agriculture should include a ''marketing news service, the 
work along this line for the time being to consist mainly of an investigation 
of the practical methods and cost of conducting such a service, and later, 
if found feasible, to include the daily collection and distribution of informa- 
tion relating to the supply and demand in the leading markets, progress of 
planting and area planted, and condition of growing crops." Such informa- 
tion cannot help but be of the very greatest value as it will tend to curb 
over-production and at the same time point to new channels of consump- 
tion. The farmers must aid the work by skilful growing of crops and 
through proper grading and packing for the market. The railroads and 
boat lines must help by quick and cheap transportation. The cities 
must help in the first place by the primary wholesale terminal markets, 
and in the second place by scientific methods of transportation and distri- 
bution within the city after the goods have left the primary wholesale 
markets. 

Mrs. Smith: We are anxious to have the gentlemen present take part 
in discussion with Mr. Miller. You have before you one of the most 
expert men along this line in the country, and we would like to have all 
take part who wish to. 

Delegate: Why can't we have a larger distribution in a market 
like this? 

Mr. Miller: I don't know of any marketing city that does not suffer 
from lack of proper distribution. There should be an opening up of the 
channels of trade and the making of a central marketing place whereby 
parties furnishing products could come, but I do not know of any such 
place. Last winter in one section, cabbage was selling for 3 cents a head, 
right on one of the town's streets, and yet the people in the adjoining 
block didn't know it was in the market. If there was a regular center 
there where the housewife was accustomed to look for any particular sup- 
plies this condition would not exist. 

Delegate : Where information on quotations is not available on the 
various market products, where can we be informed? 



126 

Mr. Miller: By our bureau service. He can subscribe to it and get 
what information we have. 

Delegate: But maybe they won't subscribe. 

Mr. Miller: I won't say they will, but if the housewives were anxious 
for that information they would get it. But the supply now is too uncer- 
tain. You can never look forward to getting certain supplies cheap this 
week and cheap next week. There must be a variation. We have onions 
raised in Orange County, two hours distance by passenger train, and it 
takes a freight car eight to fourteen days to get in a lot of onions from 
Orange County. A dealer told me last year he tried the experiment of 
putting baskets of onions in retail stores at five cents a basket ; because 
the consumer hadn't any idea they were coming into the market they did 
not meet a ready sale. In other words, their eyes were not attracted to it, 
and you must keep things before the consumer constantly if you want to 
make them buy. 

Delegate: How are you going to regulate that? 

Mr. Miller: By studying the supply. The housewife will do that 
herself. As it is now, we have low prices this week, high prices next week, 
and she doesn't know what she is going to do, and even the retailer doesn't 
know what he is going to do. 

Delegate : Recently on account of the weather we have had poultry 
go bad, probably one or two birds in a box, and the rest salable. How 
would the Municipal Market handle that? 

Mr. Miller: You would have an inspector for those who would 
determine whether they were fit for food or not. 

Delegate: Instead of condemning it he would sort out the bad and 
sell what was good? 

Mr. Miller: Yes. 

Mrs. Smith : There are so many here who know something about 
this part of the discussion we would hke to have all of you take part. 

Delegate: Why is a carload lot necessarily the unit? 

Mr. Miller: For the reason you can get better freight rates with 
carload lots than a fractional lot. 

Delegate : What is the difference in carload lots and fractional lots? 

Mr. Miller : It depends on the distance and the amount you carry. 
It is different on different railroads. 

Delegate : That is the key to the whole situation. 

Mr. Miller: I think we will both agree there is a difference in 
freight rates. 

Delegate: Yes, and in numerous instances unjustifiable difference. 



127 

R. C. Wright: If this gentleman will call at Broad Street Station we 
will discuss the matter with him. 

Mr. Miller: I think we will agree there is a difference in the rates. 
I think it is up to you farmers to send in carload lots wherever you can. 
Why not get together on it? 

Delegate: I think it is better for you to get into your cities what 
they are trying to get in the town of Boston where you have a freight 
delivery from house to house. 

Mrs. Smith: We have some representatives here from railroads. 
How about Mr. Wright? 

Mr. Wright: I was just going to ask this gentleman to talk on this 
subject if he will talk statistics. Carload lots and less than carload lots 
are two different phases of the question, and you get nearer the truth 
when you take it on that basis. I hand the gentleman my card and hope 
he will come over to see me. 

Delegate: I am not a railroad man now, but was for a number of 
years. I am connected with the Chamber of Commerce in Baltimore. 
Our friend who has spoken here doesn't look with approval on the dif- 
ference between rates in carload lots and less than carload lots. I was 
very sorry to hear at this conference one word of criticism on railroads, 
about the question of freight rates, but it all came merely through Mrs. 
Smith alluding to the fact that it took a long time to make some rates. 
And it does. The railroad traffic is a very delicately adjusted affair, and 
anything that looks to the better serving of its patrons and better revenue 
would be done tomorrow, and adversely, such criticism cannot but help 
having a most deleterious effect on the community, besides. Railroads 
have their limitations and they must at all times act with care and cau- 
tion as to what will be for the best interests of the railroads themselves 
and the people whom they serve. 

There are unfortunately, usually one or two kickers, and a disposi- 
tioji to criticise the railroads for what they do, but they have not a clear 
understanding of the limitations and reasons of the railroads. But we 
are now getting closer and closer to the proper relation between the 
carriers and their freight patrons, and the producer and consumer. I 
wish I had time to give you many specific illustrations of the many, many 
improvements in service the great railroad carriers have added towards 
the communities they serve. They are anxious to have them prosper. 
As an illustration I would ask you to see the magnificent exhibit the 
Pennsylvania Railroad has, of its efforts along this line here in the eastern 
cities. They have industrial agents. They are doing everything they 
can to build up the country, and why shouldn't they if they are to benefit 
by it and it is the wisest course to follow? I know in my long railroad 
service criticism is bound to follow no matter what you do. If you do 
a thing one way you are blamed for it and if you do it the other way you 



128 

are also blamed, and I believe, in a meeting of this kind, we should 
approach this question of transportation fairly, honestly and unbiassed 
and impartially, before criticism is made, and I am frank to say that I 
believe nine hundred and ninety-nine out of the one thousand instances 
of complaints that are made, could be satisfactorily explained by the 
railroads. 

Mrs. Smith: Mr. Nathan, of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, 
is here and will speak to you for a while. 

Me. Nathan: This is rather a surprising call, as I was not on the 
programme, but I am always glad to speak of our efforts in behalf of the 
milk question. I have been very much interested in the discussions at this 
conference as far as I have been able to attend, and I want to take the 
liberty of saying I was somewhat disappointed last night in seeing the 
subject of milk handled as it was, and possibly there was a great deal of mis- 
information spread among those who were present as to the care and effort 
which milk dealers, like those with whom we came in contact last night 
on the stereopticon, are claimed do not exercise. Most milk dealers are 
deserving to a degree and understand the care and quality of milk. It is 
unfortunate perhaps that I didn't say this last night, although the hour 
was very late. It is unfortunate that the conditions existing as shown, 
would be such as they are, or that they would be permitted to conduct the 
milk business in such a way, and if they still exist the city authorities of 
Rochester ought to take some method or measures of overcoming it. But 
it isn't true. At least we haven't found it so, if those conditions were 
stated to be facts as being conditions typical in every large city in the 
United States. As a matter of fact, in the cities of New York, Baltimore, 
Philadelphia, Washington, and more especially in New York and Phila- 
delphia, as he tells us there have been spent hundreds and thousands of 
dollars in plants calculated to put milk on the market in the very best 
condition. It may be true, as it no doubt is, that in every city there are 
some undesirable milk dealers, but on the whole every effort is being made 
to raise the standard and quality of the product to the greatest maximum 
possible, and the methods we are perfecting in large cities for handling 
milk, as well as in the country, run into the hundreds and thousands of 
dollars. Since the organization of the Milk Bureau there have been plants 
on lines of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and particularly on this entire 
system, whose value exceeds one-quarter of a million dollars, and would 
before the end of 1914, or at least when the plants are finished, be 
worth half a million dollars in real estate and equipment. These enter- 
prises are spending these vast sums of money in the country to secure a 
good product and our railroad company is spending a large sum of money 
daily, weekly, monthly and throughout the entire year, in service which is 
calculated to place this milk at points of consumption in as good condition 
as it is possible to do that. We have inaugurated service starting at the 
city of Buffalo at 7 o'clock in the morning, picking up milk within a 



129 

distance of twenty-seven miles from Buffalo, connecting with Philadelphia 
and New York and various towns along the line until it reaches to the 
extent of eighteen cars. Much of that milk is for Philadelphia and New 
York. We deliver our milk in Brooklyn, through the tunnels under the 
East River and under the North River to Manhattan. Milk shipped 8 
o'clock this morning is in Brooklyn at 1 o'clock, and on the tables at 7 and 8 
o'clock the next morning. To accommodate this traffic we have equipped 
ourselves with steel refrigerator cars, well constructed. Refrigeration is 
secured by the salt being put into tanks at the end of the car. We can 
demonstrate to you that the temperature is 36-37 degrees now existing in 
those cars at Broad Street Station and can be maintained at that tem- 
perature for forty-eight hours without re-icing. 

I might mention an incident connected with this railroad. It has 
been the custom of all milk operators to place their ice directly on the cans 
and bottles. We consider our system is a great improvement, as in that 
way it does not bring the ice in contact with the milk in any way. If you 
ice it the old way and ship it in cases, these bottles are covered with cracked 
ice, which brings it in close contact with the milk, but separated from the 
milk by the cap on the bottle only. But in this particular refrigeration 
system we have, this last method is entirely unnecessary but we have 
considerable trouble to convince the dealers it is efficient, and one dealer 
in New York City has been skeptical of our efforts, until the other day we 
received a letter to the effect that their entire shipment from Williamsport 
arrived in Brooklyn frozen, and after an interview we instructed our people 
not to use so much salt, as the milk arriving in a frozen condition is unsal- 
able. It, however, convinced the people of our system of refrigeration, 
and they had no further complaint. 

I don't know that I can say anything further, except that our activities 
are well understood along this line at every point, and if there is any one 
here who is in the dairying business, we are glad to confer with him and 
glad to see him at this conference and hope you will all take advantage of 
seeing our dairy and agricultural cars in Broad Street Station, and on your 
way out of this conference you can procure one of our pamphlets explaining 
to you about our agricultural work. 

Delegate: What are your rates? 

Mr. Nathan: Our rates are standard rates established some years 
ago by the Interstate Commerce Commission and maintained by all lines 
on a parity with New York and Philadelphia. 

Mrs. Smith: We will now hear from Dr. Pennington. I want to 
say here, that Dr. Pennington has a remarkable personality because there 
are few people who are pleasant to everyone, and in Washington they 
tell me she is one of the ablest women they have, and think a great deal of 
her. She is not going to speak on the laboratory or cold storage, but 
railroad co-operation this afternoon, for she is of the impression we have 
a pretty fine system in this country if we only make use of it. 



CO-OPERATION OF RAILROAD TRANSPORTATION OF 
PERISHABLE PRODUCTS. 



Dr. Mary E. Pennington, 

Director, Food Research Laboratory, Bureau of Chemistry, 
United States Department of Agriculture. 



The day of the farmer's market wagon is passed. The broad zones 
of suburban residences surrounding our cities preclude extensive food 
production within feasible hauling distance of the market. Here and 
there a small gathering of wagons dispense goods to a limited section of 
the town, but as a source of provender for the city's population it is of 
but small moment. We must depend upon steam or electricity to bring 
the food supply from the region of production to the region of consump- 
tion, and the producing center for this eastern country seems each year 
to be more remote. Even what we term^ "nearby produce" must come 
by rail; therefore, the farmer as well as the consumer is dependent upon 
the railroads. 

This traffic in the transportation of perishables has grown with 
startling rapidity and has far surpassed in volume and efficiency any 
precedents furnished by the old world. Its very newness and strides 
make for unrest, because conditions are changing with such rapidity that 
neither the shipper, on the one hand, nor the carrier, on the other, can 
continue one mode of business long enough for the methods involved to 
become perfected by routine use and the unconscious absorption of 
details by the human part of the machinery involved. There is ^ very 
detrimental amount of ignorance on the part of both shipper and carrier 
concerning their respective business. This is partly because the whole 
subject of the handling of perishable products has been neglected imtil 
recently, when the pinch of high prices has made us look for wastes and 
extravagances. 

As a part of the investigation of the handling of perishables, the 
United States Department of Agriculture has been studying, co-opera- 
tively with the railroads, how foodstuffs can be best and most econom- 
ically transported. This is not a problem that can be worked out at the 
office desk; neither do experiments with small quantities and prepared 
conditions suffice. The goods must be by car-lots and the observations 
must cover hundreds of routine shipments, month after month, that the 
influence of seasonal weather and seasonal freight may be taken into 
account. Because refrigeration plays so important a role in the preserva- 
tion of foodstuffs, a large part of the v/ork of the department has been to 

(130) 



131 

determine the temperatures prevailing in refrigerator cars in transit and 
what temperatures are necessary in order to transport the goods in prime 
condition. The department could readily provide instruments which 
would give a record of the temperatures prevailing throughout the entire 
haul, be that long or short; but it was necessary to know also the con- 
struction of the cars, their insulation, bunker sj^stem, icing methods and 
a hundred and one details that could be obtained only with the co-opera- 
tion of the railroads. This matter was, therefore, laid before railroad 
after railroad as the work extended, and in every case it has met with 
universal courtesy and a willingness to give the help or privileges asked. 

We have taken long journeys on freight trains in company with the 
carload of the perishable product under observation. Every agent in 
every j^ard has been notified by the railroad ofl&cials of our coming and 
has clone all in his power to make the trip profitable and the observers 
more comfortable— not an easy matter, when running through a blizzard 
or on a fast schedule. We have also been made welcome in every freight 
yard, transfer station, dock, pier and terminal, and every facility in the 
possession of the carriers has been put at our disposal. 

We have in this way gained an intimate, first-hand knowledge of the 
problem of transporting perishables from the railroad viewpoint; and 
because we have studied with the shipper or producer every detail of the 
origin and preparation of the product to be shipped, tracing it step by 
step to the consumer, we have absorbed his point of view also. 

We have found a woeful lack of a mutual understanding of the 
difficulties confronting both parties. Each is ready instantly to disclaim 
responsibility and to place blame on the opposite party. Such a condi- 
tion of affairs can only work hardship to all concerned. Litigation is a far 
greater expense to the nation than the money actually spent indicates, 
because it seldom results in fundamental reforms, and many of the condi- 
tions which the decision is expected to remedy remain practically the 
same. The fact that very frequently the well-being of the railroad makes 
for the success of the shipper, and vice versa, is too often lost sight of. 

Without in any way trespassing on either the peace commission or 
the judiciary, we have had the satisfaction many times of seeing mooted 
questions between railroads and shippers clarified and more efficient work 
done as a result of the knowledge gained. This principle has progressed 
to such an extent in the poultry, butter and egg industry that a joint 
committee has been appointed by the shippers and the railroads to discuss 
transportation problems in their broadest sense, to acquire information 
and to encourage more intelligent packing and handling, that losses all 
along the line may be avoided. A representative of the Department of 
Agriculture meets with this committee in an advisory capacity, thereby 
keeping its work in touch with the newest findings of the department. 
From time to time the committee issues reports which are pubHshed in 
trade papers as well as separately. 



132 

The work so far has been very largely on the breakage of eggs in 
transit. The general investigation has been undertaken by the depart- 
ment, through the Food Research Laboratory of the Bureau of Chem- 
istry, co-operatively with this committee and the industries which it 
represents. 

The investigation of such a question as the breakage of eggs in transit 
would be an impossibility without co-operative work. No amount of 
detective ability would compensate for the free opening of records and 
frank statements of facts that are ours for the asking. Of necessity we 
receive many confidences that never go beyond the laboratory staff or 
the laboratory files. Our success depends on respecting such confidences. 
It is our custom to take the results of our work back to the shippers or 
the railroads individually, if they are directly applicable to individuals, 
just as promptly as they become facts. Later they are available to all 
parties in a publication which is strictly impersonal. 

Whatever activities this committee may undertake, it will always 
be of great value as a clearing house for questions and a promoter of a 
better understanding between people who are gradually learning that, 
when all is said and done, the greatest good is mutual good, the surest 
progress is mutual progress. 

We realize that anything which undertakes to bring about railroad 
co-operation is skating on pretty thin ice. Perhaps, however, the ice is 
fixed for Uncle Sam because we have no axes to grind and therefore can 
hardly be accused as a party to that. This question must be worked 
out along practical lines, as Mr. Miller has ably laid out in his statement 
concerning market terminals. 

Delegate: How long does meat keep in cold storage? 

Dr. Pennington: We do know it will keep at least a year. How 
much longer than that we don't know. 

Mrs. Smith: A gentleman told Dr. Pennington he always froze his 
turkeys and kept them at a temperature of three degrees below zero. 
Dr. Pennington said, "Take them out and keep them at a temperature 
of sixteen above." I thought that was a good point, because the Bellevue- 
Stratford and other such well-known hotels are glad to have such informa- 
tion from such good authority. 

Delegate: Don't get Dr. Pennington started on the cold-storage 
question. She is going to talk on that subject later. 

Dr. Pennington: I fully intended at the time the carload lot dis- 
cussion was on, to say something, but I forgot it. Not on the subject of 
rates, but on another question quite as important. It is of just as much 
importance to the nation to get products from the farmer to the consumer 
in good order- — every single egg, every head of cabbage or whatever it may 



133 

be — as it is to have a rate which is favorable to the shipper or consumer 
or whoever may be interested in rates, because if you do not handle your 
goods under proper conditions and deliver them to the markets in good 
order, there is no doubt but that the expense all along the line will be 
increased, notwithstanding any effort you make to adjust the rates. We 
also know from the experience gained in our work in the department at 
Washington, that maximum efficiency can be better attained in the 
handling of products in carload lots. It is even hard enough handling it 
under that method, and I think every railroad man will bear me out in 
that statement, and those who handle refrigeration will say so too. But 
to do it on the odd lot basis, a few cases here and a few barrels there, 
one sort of package here and another there, with nothing fixed, nothing 
uniform. How can you do this and bring your products in to the markets 
in good order? We are a higgledy-piggledy disjointed nation in the matter 
of distribution of food supplies. We must learn to do it better. I do not 
know in just what direction we are going to develop in this matter. Take 
such a period as we have just gone through in our Thanksgiving market, 
where our poultry came in by tons unfit for use; and during last summer 
when in the big poultry-producing territory south of the Missouri and 
along the Mississippi we had a loss, an actual loss, of thirty-five per cent 
of the eggs that were produced, representing a loss in money hard to 
estimate, and which conservatively estimated during that period would 
amount to $12„000,000. That sort of waste we must take steps to stop. 
We do believe that the carload-lot unit is a means of stopping a great 
deal of this waste. But you cannot keep a car cool — and refrigeration is a 
prerequisite in the handling of a great deal of our shipments — you can't 
keep a car cool if you open the door at every station and put in some- 
thing that is hot. You have to start out with your carload cool and keep 
it cool. It must be done efficiently, whether carload lots happen to agree 
with our own particular ideas or methods of doing business, is quite aside 
from the national question. The national question comes first, for what- 
ever is best for the nation is best for us too. 

Delegate: If you can keep meat for a year, as you have said, how 
long can you keep milk? 

Dr. Pennington: I never tried it. Do you mean for a short or 
long period? 

Delegate: Is there any method of keeping it until carload-lot 
quantities were had? 

Dr. Pennington: There are ways of doing that by co-operation 
among the farmers. Up until now it has only been a possibility, but in 
the future it will be a reality. Then we will ship such articles as milk 
by carload quantities. 

Mrs. James (of the Civic Club, Philadelphia) : Is there any known 
method of taking care of small shipments? I know a great many farmers 



134 

around who are giving away their surplus products because they have 
no way of shipping at a distance twenty miles from the city. For 
instance, if I want to ship a basket of apples for that distance it becomes 
too costly. Isn't there some way of handling that produce from the 
farmer to the consumer so that he would receive a certain amount of 
money for that rather than giving away their product? 

Dr. Pennington : I would consider going to the neighbors who give 
away their excess produce, have some method of collecting the excess 
material they are giving away, then see your railroads and try and get 
together and talk the matter over and see if you can get those who are 
giving away their products to handle it to the advantage of all. For 
my part, I do not believe in asking a railroad to haul a quart of milk or 
a basket of apples or anything like that. They can handle a carload of 
apples with much greater efficiency. 

Mr. Reynolds: I was going to answer the gentleman's question 
regarding milk. I had some experience in the milk business. A customer 
complained about the milk because I was delivering milk in the morning 
that was milked the night before. I gave him two bottles of milk, one a 
week old and one the morning's milk, and he couldn't tell me the dif- 
ference. He kept on testing it, but he chose the oldest milk as being the 
fresh milk. If you will keep milk at a temperature of forty degrees, you 
can send it from New York to Japan by way of San Francisco, and that 
has been done to my knowledge. But there is one thing I believe should 
be seriously considered. I happen to knxDW some farmers who have gone 
out of business because of this experience: They put their milk on the 
railroad at under fifty degrees and it is landed in the city at over seventy 
degrees; the milk is inspected, throT\ai out and the shipper foots the 
bill and the railroad doesn't do a thing as a result of that sort of method, 
just as if the milk was thro^^ni in the sewer, and the farmer loses it. He 
paid his share also to the railroad and he has no come-back. 

Delegate : It seems conditions are changing. We need refrigeration 
now, but didn't need it or didn't think of it ten years ago. And we are 
paying for refrigeration but don't get it. We get an attempt at it, but 
inasmuch as it is impossible to successfully keep the temperature down at 
all times of the year, why should we pay for it? We are charged with 
refrigeration rates, yet it is impossible to get it, and we shouldn't be 
charged refrigeration rates if we don't get the service. If we got any 
benefit out of it or if our milk was helped we would pay it. Unless condi- 
tions change it means we must go out of business. In my own territory, 
which was formerly a milk-producing territory, we must either change 
our occupation or do something else. 

Dr. Pennington: The railroads are undoubtedly trying to handle 
your product in such a way as will procure not only for you but for them- 



135 

selves the maximum efficiency, and they are no doubt endeavoring to give 
you the best service. 

Delegate: We have been charged refrigerator car rates for "six 
months and there hasn't been- any ice in them, and we pay the same 
charge as when there were no refrigerator cars. 

Dr. Pennington: You are so close to the Interstate Commerce 
Commission I believe you will have to go to them about that. All our 
shipping questions have their problems. They are hard knots to unravel 
and the railroads as well have their tangles. These are knotty knots 
and which side of the fence are we going to be on? Maybe we are all 
wrong in this matter, but let us do the very best we can. We honestly 
think this work we are doing in the matter of investigation should be 
carried out along this line as to methods of doing it, then take that 
information tor work out a system for production and distribution, to 
give the very best thought on the subject that we are able to give. That 
is what the Agricultural Department must do now to help us in this 
food problem. What to do with that information is right up to you. 
We are doing the very best we can and the very best we know how, to get 
the best results. 

Mr. Yearsley: We have it on the authority of H, B. Fullerton, 
also on the authority of Professor King of the University, that there exists 
a systematic destruction in throwing away produce, on the railroads on 
the way to the big cities. I would like to know to what extent that has 
been and what the government has done towards investigating it. 

Dr. Pennington: So far as the work comes under our supervision 
and so far as we are concerned, we have never made any nor do we make 
any investigations. I don't know anything for or against that question. 

Delegate: Assuming a poultryman in Texas wishes to provide for 
his shipment to the eastern states, would that probably be by co-opera- 
tion with the railroads? 

Dr. Pennington: Do you mean what we are doing with regard to a 
shipper in Texas? 

Delegate: Yes. 

Dr. Pennington: We have gone down into the storage districts. 
Sometimes we have put our inspectors into packing houses to work with 
the packer to show him how to kill his poultry, to load his car and get 
his stuff out. We have a department connected with that where practical 
men who are looking after this phase of the work are engaged in the pro- 
ducing sections all the time. Just now this ''field station" is down in 
Missouri. It has been in Kansas, Iowa and Tennessee, going from one 
packing house to another, answering questions and demonstrating the 



136 

work, how it should be done. When the car is loaded and registered, a 
thermometer is put aboard and the car is shipped through and met by one 
of our own nfen at its destination, wherever that may be. When the car 
is opened we look at the goods tested under very definite conditions at the 
shipping point, and we take the report of the thermometer. 

When we look back four or five years at the general methods of 
handling our products and compare them with the general methods we 
have today, there is a general big improvement. The National Poultry 
Association in 1909 had a meeting of about ninety members where much 
interest was shown. At their meeting last year there were three thousand 
members at that meeting and they are working for good ends. This kind 
of interest is being shown all over the country. It means we have to 
handle our products better all along the line, and the department, both 
state arid federal, has to send its men out into the highways and byways, 
out among practical men and take the scientific work they acquire in the 
laboratories and experimental stations to the people who are actually 
using them. That is what we are trying to do. 

Me. Kates : What did the gentleman understand who spoke a while 
ago as to Dr. King's article? 

Mr. Yearsley: I have in my desk a written report that Professor 
King wrote on markets of Philadelphia, in which there is the statement 
that there is a systematic throwing away of produce in the city, in order 
to maintain prices, 

Mr. Kates : The sense of that, I believe, is that the railroads throw 
away those consignments only under instructions from the shipper and is 
not a destructive interest on the part of the railroads. 

Mr. Yearsley : I didn't say a word against the railroads. 

Delegate: I would like to ask if you can reahze how hard it is to 
get together with the railroad company. We farmers in South Jersey 
have been shipping goods to Philadelphia and New York markets that 
take two hours to reach. These goods are ready between three and five 
o'clock in the afternoon, and have to be here by one or two o'clock the 
next morning. Frequently these goods don't get into market until 
between five and six o'clock the next morning. Of course the market is 
over then and each individual farmer may lose from $10 to $50 on his 
shipment. We take that up with the railroad company and all the satis- 
faction we get is that the shipment was delayed. And you have no 
redress. They say they can't get it in there. We farmers try to get 
with them, but we get no satisfaction out of them. They say, ''If you 
can't get them there by freight, ship them by express." 

Mrs. Smith: We know that is the crying evil. We would like to 
hear from Mr, Home. 



COLD STORAGE. 



Frank A. Horne, Esquire, 
President; Merchants' Refrigerating Company, New York City. 



Before beginning a discussion of the topic assigned to me, I desire to 
succinctly state a few facts concerning the present agitation touching the 
relation of the refrigerating warehousemen to the price of eggs and other 
commodities. 

First: There is no cold storage trust or combination of any kind. 

Second: The public cold storage warehousemen do not own the 
goods stored. 

Third: These products are owned by a large number of competing 
dealers all over the country. 

Fourth: Market reports show a big decrease in the receipt of eggs 
in all the leading cities and an increase in the trade demand and output. 

Fifth: On November 1, 1913, there was a shortage of 664,016 cases 
of eggs (thirty dozen each) in forty-five of the leading public cold storage 
warehouses in the country. 

Sixth: During October this year there was a reduction of 635,792 
cases of eggs in the holdings of these forty-five houses representing eggs 
going into consumption. 

Seventh: These eggs are now being withdrawn in large quantities, 
regardless of boycotts and newspaper agitation, to meet the demand. 

Eighth: The stocks remaining in the warehouses are insufficient to 
meet the prospective demands of the market on the basis of last year's 
output until the new crop arrives next March. 

The subject that I am asked to present to you today is a topic very 
greatly misunderstood and concerning which many erroneous impressions 
have been formed in the popular mind, largely because of the position 
taken by a part of the press in the discussion of the high cost of hving. 
It is unfortunate that sensational and unreasonable allegations and 
attacks are freely published in an agitation of this kind, while sober facts 
and true statements offered in contravention are generally neither desired 
nor welcomed. 

During the year 1910, in spite of the fact that the range of prices 
of nearly all articles entering into human consumption had been advanc- 

(137) 



138 

ing, there began an agitation blaming cold storage for high prices. It 
was asserted that cold storage facilities were used to artificially control 
markets and increase prices; that foods were carried for long periods of 
time and that the process was detrimental to the public health. There- 
upon there were held a series of investigations and hearings to determine 
the facts, such as the Massachusetts Commission to Investigate the Sub- 
ject of the Cold Storage of Food, the Hearings before the Committee on 
Manufactures of the United States Senate, the investigations of the 
Food Research 'Laboratory, U. S. Department of Agriculture, the study 
of Cold Storage Business Features and Prices by the Bureau of Statistics, 
U. S. Department of Agriculture and the report of the Chicago Chamber 
of Commerce on the subject. Without exception, all these investigations 
pronounced in favor of cold storage as a valuable modern public utility 
in performing the function of conserving our perishable foods, preventing 
deterioration and waste and affording a highly developed method by 
which the great surplus products of the flush season could be wholesomely 
preserved for consumption out of season, during nature's scant period of 
production. 

For a time the attitude of the press was much more favorable and 
the laws passed by quite a number of states were fair and reasonable in 
regulating the business, with the exception of the law passed in Pennsyl- 
vania, which is extremely drastic, and the New York law, which is burden- 
some in some of its features. 

At the time of the meeting of the Third International Congress of 
Refrigeration in this country at Chicago, as recently as last September, 
the newspapers and magazines, quite generally, paid tribute to the science 
of refrigeration in all its modern applications. But how fickle is public 
opinion as reflected in the daily press, and how quickly the passing cur- 
rents of discussion sweep us from our bearings and conclusions. 

Now that Mrs. Hen has curtailed her activity and Mr. Man has 
increased his demand for her product, these economists of a day settle 
it all in a single editorial, the politicians attempt to solve the problem in 
his legislative panacea, and the cold-storage man is the "goat" of the 
situation. 

The cold storage industry is between the "upper and nether mill- 
stone" in the politics of the agitation. The Republicans said it was cold 
storage and not the high tariff that did it, and now the Democrats claim 
it is cold storage in spite of the low tariff that makes our living high. 

Let us now consider the facts in the case as established by market 
statistics, government investigation and the testimony of experts, and 
attempt to correct popular misconceptions by getting at the demon- 
strated truth of the matter. 

The extent of the facilities for the conservation of foods by refrigera- 
tion is indicated by the following figures from the Ice and Refrigeration 
Blue Book: In 1911 there were 860 public cold storage warehouses having 



139 

about 169,54r,000 cubic feet of storage space and representing an invest- 
ment of about $75,000,000. It is estimated that the value of goods stored 
in one year ranges from $500,000,000 to $700,000,000. It is, however, 
calculated that not over from five per cent to ten per cent of the annual 
production of such foods as eggs, butter, poultry and meats are placed in 
cold storage for periods of over thirty days. This corrects the popular 
notion as to the quantity of products held in cold storage, but another 
error is in .reference to the length of the period of storage. The U. S. 
Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Statistics, made an exhaustive 
study of this subject, based upon reports from the warehouses of the 
country for the years 1909-1910. In stating the proportion of foods 
remaining in storage for ten months, the report (Bulletin No. 93, page 30) 
says: "Let the percentages for the deliveries of ten months be stated. 
These are represented by 99.9 per cent for fresh pork, 98.9 per cent for 
dressed poultry, 97.8 per cent for butter and 99.9 per cent for eggs. 
The important observation to be made is that the receipts into cold 
storage are entirely or very nearly exhausted by the deliveries within 
ten months." The same report gives the average length of storage as 
follows: Fresh beef, 2.28 months; fresh mutton, 4.45 months; butter, 
4.43 months; poultry, 2.42 months; eggs, 5.91 months. This is the 
answer to the exaggerated stories of the long holding of these products. 
We come now to a consideration of the effect of cold storage on prices, 
especially of eggs, which is the essence of the present controversy. Let 
me introduce here in chart form a statistical review of the New York 
egg market from March, 1912, to November, 1913, together with a sum- 
mary and comparison of the figures. This review was prepared by Mr. 
F. G. Urner of the New York Produce Review. (See next page.) 



140 



Statistical Review of New York Egg Market, March, 1912, to October, 1913, 
Showing Receipts, Movement to and from Storage and Range of Prices. 



Month. 



1912 

March 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August 

September 

October 

November 

December 

1913 

January 

February 

March 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August 

September 

October 

November 1 to 15 



Receipts, 

Cases, 



459,859 
742,893 
923,261 
561,402 
435,169 
367,494 
309,384 
256,697 
158,634 
157,406 

194,642 
257,679 
447,250 
679,102 
742,862 
571,774 
455,366 
342,536 
332,170 
288,851 
107,078 



stock in 
Storage, 
First of 
Each 
Month. 



None 

Negligible 

307,000 

906,000 

1,083,000 

1,154,000 

1,134,000 

1,086,000 

914,500 

662,000 

350,000 
132,000 
15,000 
Negligible 
225,500 
593,000 
818,000 
872,000 
819,000 
686,000 
537,500 



Net Input to 
Storage (+) 

and 
Output ( -) 



Calculated 

Total 

Output 

from 

Wholesale 

Market. 



Negligible 
+307,000 
+599,000 
+ 177,000 
+ 71,000 

- 20,000 

- 48,000 
-171,500 
-252,500 
-312,000 

-218,000 
-117,000 

- 15,000 
+225,500 
+367,500 
+225,000 
+ 54,000 

- 53,000 
-133,000 
-148,500 
-109,500 



450,000 
416,000 
349,000 
384,000 
364,000 
387,000 
357,000 
428,000 
421,000 
469,000 

423,000 
383,000 
440,000 
454,000 
365,000 
347,000 
401,000 
396,000 
450,000 
437,000 
217,000 



Range of Prices for 
the Better Grades. 



Fresh 
Western. 



21 @27 

19 @22i 
17*@22 
18 @21 
18^@22 
18i@24 

22 @30 
24^@34 

26 @38 
25 @38 

23 @30 
19i@26| 
18 @23 
18i@21 
18 ©22 
18 @22 
18 @23^ 

20 @27 

24 @32 

27 @35 
31 



Refrigerator. 



None 



22i@23| 
22i@24| 
22i@24i 
21 @24 
18 @23 

18|@21 
15i@21 
15 @17| 



23 @24i 
23 1 ©26 

24 ©27 

25 ©281 
271 ©30 



Summary. 

Cases. 

Receipts, March 1 to October 31, 1912 4,056,159 

Receipts, March 1 to October 31, 1913 3,859,911 

Decrease for above period 196,248 

Average monthly trade output, March to October, 1912 391,850 

Average monthly trade output, March to October, 1913 411,250 

Deficiency in greatest storage accumulations, August 1, 1913, compared 

with 1912 282,000 

Deficiency in storage accumulations, November 1, 1913, compared with 1912 377,000 

As bearing upon the reasonableness of present holding prices for storage eggs 
particular consideration should be given to the following: 

Prospective needs, November 1 to January 31, based upon average Cases. 

output since March 1 1,233,750 

Storage reserve November 1 537,500 

Receipts November 1, 1912, to January 31, 1913 511,000 

Prospective deficiency 185,250 



141 

This table demonstrates the entire theory of cold storage and its 
economic aspects. It shows the heavy receipts in the market during the 
spring months, for example, 923,261 cases in May, 1912, and 742,862 
cases in May, 1913. Likewise it shows the light receipts in the market 
during the fall and winter months, for example, 157,406 cases in Decem- 
ber, 1912. At the same time it exhibits how the surplus receipts of the 
spring enter storage; for example, the storage input of 599,000 cases in 
May, 1912, and 367,500 cases in May, 1913. The fact that the move- 
ment into and out of cold storage is regular, seasonable and in exact refer- 
ence to the receipts in the market, is clearly shown, indicating an obedience 
to the law of supply and demand and disproving any assumption of con- 
trol or corner. A study of the prices shows the heavy losses of a year 
ago and the natural profits of this year because of the shortage. 

The summary and comparison is illuminative, disclosing a decrease 
in receipts in the market of 196,248 cases, an increase in the trade out- 
put of 155,000 cases and a deficiency of 377,000 cases in the storage hold- 
ings on November 1st, compared with last year. It should be remem- 
bered that the reserve stocks have to serve the market until next spring, 
and that under the same receipts as last year, we face a prospective short- 
age of 185,250 cases to carry us through, unless by reason of price or 
decreased demand the average is changed. New York is an absolutely 
open market and is typical of the whole country. The New York Pro- 
duce Review says, in commenting on these figures, "The unfortunate 
difficulty is that the facts of the case are so plain and so simple that they 
can hardly be believed by agitators and others who are saturated with 
the conviction of monopoly, combinations, price control or other under- 
handed and mysterious manipulations." 

The Massachusetts Commission on Cold Storage has this to say on 
the effect of cold storage on prices and increased production: 

"The per capita receipts of the chief food products subject to cold 
storage handling, namely, eggs, butter and poultry, increased greatly in 
Boston and New York markets during the decade 1901-10 as compared 
with the decade 1881-90, prior to the general adoption of cold storage 
methods. This fact appears to indicate that cold storage has contributed 
to increase the volume of production. . . . The average prices of 
butter and poultry were lower in the second decade than in the first, the 
average price of eggs was sfightly higher, but this fact is explained by 
peculiar conditions affecting the egg market." 

Mr. F. G. Urner in testifying before the U. S. Senate Committee 
on Manufactures stated: "The per capita consumption of eggs at New 
York has increased largely since ample cold storage facilities became 
available." Again he says: "The average price of fresh gathered and 
storage eggs taken together were lower during the season of scarcity since 
cold storage has been available than were the prices for fresh gathered 
eggs before cold storage was available, notwithstanding a well-known 



142 

advance in the prices of nearly all commodities." (Chart exhibited con- 
taining comparisons and conclusions as above from Mr. Timer's 
figures.) 

Mr. George K. Holmes, Chief of Division of Production and Distri- 
bution, Bureau of Statistics, U. S. Department of Agriculture, thus con- 
cludes Bulletin No. 93^ issued April 5, 1913, on Cold Storage Business 
Features: "The reader must be aware that this investigation has nega- 
tived some popular misconceptions with regard to the cold storage busi- 
ness and has substantially sustained some of the assertions made by cold 
storage warehousemen." The same authority in Bulletin No. 101, issued 
April 5, 1913, says: "The cold storage situation, as it has presented itself 
to some writers, has been assumed to be one in which the cold storage 
interests have combined to raise the price of commodities. Evidence 
would need to be presented to sustain this contention and to indicate 
the feasibility of the combination of an immense number of wholesale 
dealers in all parts of the country for the purpose of regulating prices 
through the use of cold storage warehouses. Perhaps it is not generally 
known that the owners of the cold storage warehouses do not store com- 
modities for themselves, but, on the contrary, let cubic space in their 
warehouses to customers, who place therein such perishable and other 
commodities as they please." Again this report states: "It is by no 
means to be admitted that the cold storage business is responsible if the 
prices of its commodities have increased or if the price levels of its com- 
modities have increased. Let the fact be what it will with regard to the 
effect of cold storage on prices, the fact remains that cold storage has been 
of incalculable benefit to consumers in providing commodities for con- 
sumption out of the natural productive season." (Charts exhibited from 
Bureau of Statistics.) 

As to the new inquiry now suggested by the Attorney General regard- 
ing conspiracy in restraint of trade, or of the House of Representatives 
as to the economic effects of cold storage, we are willing to submit our 
facts, knowing these departments of the government will come to the 
same conclusion as the Department of Agriculture, if the investigation 
be honest and thorough. 

With respect to the alleged injurious effect of cold storage on health, 
there is an abundance of scientific testimony to the contrary. This phase 
of the subject has not been attacked in the present agitation as it was 
several years ago. The Massachusetts Commission declared itself on 
this side of the question as follows: "Instead of being a menace to the 
public health, cold storage has, in the main, exhibited itself as a great 
agency for the conservation of the vital resources of the population. It 
has enlarged, diversified and enriched the food supply of the people. 
Without cold storage the crowded masses in the urban centers would be 
obliged to subsist on a dietary at once more meagre and more costly than 
that enjoyed at the present time." 



143 

Dr. M. E. Pennington, Chief of Food Research Laboratory, U. S. 
Department of Agriculture, testified before the U. S. Senate Committee 
in reference to poultry as follows: "There would probably be a greater 
change in twenty-four hours if the temperature was from 65° to 75° 
Fahrenheit, than if the temperature was 10° Fahrenheit for twelve months." 
Dr. Pennington also makes this statement in one of the government 
bulletins: "It is a comparatively simple matter to keep birds in good con- 
dition from one season of production to the next, in a well-constructed 
cold storage warehouse, provided those birds are received at the ware- 
house properly dressed, chilled and packed, and with such promptness 
that decomposition has not obtained even a slight foothold." 

In conclusion, it may be pertinent to the topic to briefly consider 
cold storage legislated, adopted and proposed. Eleven states have 
passed laws regulating the cold storage business, and while many of the 
provisions of these laws are unnecessary and non-effective, for the most 
part they are reasonable and workable. As the time limit is apt to be 
the most oppressive and restrictive form of regulation, it is of interest to 
note the provisions in this respect in the different acts. Twelve months 
limit, with privilege of extension, is provided in the laws of California, 
Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nebraska and North Dakota. Ten 
months, with power of extension, is the rule in Jersey. Ten and twelve 
months, without extension, is the law in New York. Nine months 
storage is permitted in Indiana. Delaware requires a limit of six months, 
which may be extended to eight months, and Pennsylvania has a law 
which is the most drastic as to time limits yet adopted. It provides that 
no foods can be offered for sale which have been stored beyond the time 
mentioned, which runs from four months on beef to ten months on 
undrawn dressed fowl and there is no provision for extension. It is past 
finding out how such periods -were selected, when twelve months is the 
only logical and natural limit if one is to be imposed, so that products 
can be carried from season to season, and then providing for extension of 
time, if proper and necessary. The next step should look to uniformity 
in this type of legislation, and it is a good sign that the Association of 
State and National Food and Dairy Departments has prepared a model, 
uniform bill, which, while not all that could be desired, is a step in the 
right direction and a number of states have adopted this bill. It is 
reported that the Commissioners of Uniform State Laws are also working 
on a measure which promises to be reasonable and fair. 

After this discussion, it is needless to say that the bill proposed in. 
Congress by Representative McKellar, providing for a time limit of 
ninety days, is perfectly absurd and impossible. It would destroy the 
entire cold storage industry and take from the people this modern and 
efficient agency of food conservation and distribution. 

Mrs. Smith: We would hke to have some discussion on this subject 
of cold storage. 



144 

Delegate: Is there not some clanger in a time limit of twelve 
months? 

Mr. Horne : The producer storing these products will take them out 
when he has the call for them. He will not take them out when he is to 
compete with the fresh product. That is not done at all. 

Delegate: For example, if the time limit was twelve months, 
wouldn't he be compelled to do that? 

Mr. Horne: As a matter of fact he is not asked to do that. It is 
unnecessary. 

Delegate : I think the time limit in the law construed to mean that 
anything is unfit for food after it has passed the time limit, is vicious and 
unreasonable in every particular, and should be repealed. 

Delegate: Don't it make any difference what time the goods are 
put in? Are not goods put in in May better at the end of nine months 
than when put in at the end of July or August? 

Mr. Horne: An April egg I should say ten or eleven months in 
storage, would be better than an egg stored in July or August. I should 
say that eggs shouldn't be kept so long. 

Delegate : Why wouldn't a ninety-day bill reduce the cost of these 
prices? I would like to know why it wouldn't. 

Mr. Horne: The product would be in excess at a time when there 
was not the demand for them. The farmers would go out of that line 
of business. There would be a dearth when wanted, and an increase in 
prices for a long time. It would be perfectly illegal, and as a matter of 
fact wouldn't be feasible, couldn't be done. 

Delegate: Do you mean the farmers would stop raising the product? 

Mr. Horne : Yes. 

Delegate: You spoke of seasonal storage. If you put in April eggs, 
the prices are the same to remain there to January? But if you take out 
the April eggs and put in others in August you got two seasons' storage 
to pay. 

Mr. Horne: Eggs stored in August would command a monthly rate. 

Delegate : When does that rate cease or begin? 

Mr. Horne: That is purely a matter of private contract between 
the cold-storage man and the dealer. A large amount of storage is done 
in the spring. Summer storage is another matter. 

Mr. Brown: In regard to the statistics about material bemg 
marketed, substantially all of it within ten months, what was the starting 
month? 

Mr. Horne: Those figures begin with the egg year in the case ol 
eggs. These figures were reported by the Department of Agriculture. 
That is, I assume, where we got those figures. 



145 

Mr. Brown: Wouldn't it make a difference what month it began 
with? 

Mr. Horne: Certainly it would. It would have to begin when it 
went in. 

Mr. Brown: I notice you mentioned one thing which I think was 
important, that the storage man was an ill-used man, that he doesn't 
buy the stuff himself from storage. I think that is the story. Another 
point which should be brought forth, something in which every city is 
interested in. Do packing houses use their house for the storage of 
other products than meats? 

Mr. Horne: Yes, 

Delegate: Will you discuss the preservative efficiency of cold 
storage? There has been a popular impression, for instance, that a cold- 
storage egg was a bad egg. Will you tell us something about the preserva- 
tive efficiency of cold storage? 

Mr. Horne : May I answer your question by asking this of an expert 
on this topic? I would ask that Dr. Pennington answer this gentleman's 
question. 

Dr. Pennington: I really think I occupied enough of your time 
previously. 

Mr. Horne: No, we would like to hear from you because you are an 
expert. 

Dr. Pennington: The department in the keeping of eggs and 
poultry under refrigeration, both in the cooler temperature which is 
ordinarily about 32°, and freezing, which is 10° below zero, we find that 
chickens will keep for at least one year, absolutely wholesome and in a 
desirable condition and salable condition. At the end of nine months of 
storage, if the fresh well-handled product is cooked side by side with 
storage well handled, the most expert chicken tasters we have, have been 
unable to tell the difference. At the end of twelve months, these expert 
chicken tasters, by considering it carefully, can mostly tell the difference. 
Sometimes they can't. After twelve months or sixteen months we can 
always tell them by taste. When it comes to a laboratory analysis, the 
scientific side of the question, there is a difference in the chemical com- 
position, so small, however, it can be found in the laboratory but not large 
enough to make any difference so far as we are able to detect any dif- 
ference in food value or wholesomeness of the product. At the end of 
six months or a year we have never been able to detect from our bacterial 
and chemical analysis, anything that is of absolute importance or any- 
thing that it is necessary to consider, up to the storage period of one year. 
Therefore we say, and we think we have abundant evidence to justify 



146 

our so saying, that poultry will keep in perfect condition for a period of 
one year or from season to season. Eggs, if in good condition, will cer- 
tainly keep for a period of nine months, and many will hold up to ten 
months. For our own consumption I put them in in April and use them 
well into January. 

Mr. Horne: Can you tell us what in your judgment would be the 
effect of any limit of time under, we will say, ten months on eggs, or 
twelve months on butter. What would be the effect on the consumer if 
such a law was in effect? 

Dr. Pennington: So far as we can judge as to the situation, the 
production, supply and distribution and demand are some of the various 
factors entering into this question. To limit the time of the storage 
period beyond a certain period is decidedly against the consumer in serv- 
ing his demands. 

Delegate: At what temperature are eggs and some of the other 
leading commodities kept? 

Mr. Horne: Eggs are carried at from 29 to 31° F. and apples are 
carried at from 30 to 32° F. 

Delegate : Then all things could be kept in one room? 

Mr. Horne: By no means. 

Delegate : Different temperature for different things? 

Mr. Horne: Yes. 

Delegate : Would you say the high cost is due to refrigeration? 

Mr. Horne : Lack of refrigeration. 

Mrs. Smith: The question has been asked as to what Dr. Penning- 
ton thinks as to a nine months' limit on cold storage. Is fish fit to eat 
after being in storage nine months? 

Dr. Pennington: I know of no reason why, if fish was good when 
it was put in, but that it should be fit to eat. I wouldn't say as to much 
beyond that time, but I know that at the end of a year it is good to eat. 

Mrs. Smith: Will Dr. Pennington tell us how she supplies her 
family, in the way of pure food? 

Dr. Pennington: My family lives entirely on food from out of cold 
storage. I told this tale at Atlantic City last night, and I have told it 
so many times, everybody must know it now. We buy in large enough 
quantities to last the family a long period of time, being desirable both 
from the standpoint of cold storage and also convenience. For instance, 
our eggs go in in April and we use them into January. In between that 
time our cold storage product is exhausted and a fresh supply is available, 
and we have pretty good ways of getting fresh products. We also use 
canned eggs. In other words, we start out in the spring when eggs are 
good, put them in a two-pound can, and do them up just as the packers 



147 

are doing them in a wholesale way. The supplies of course are fresh. 
When the butter supply is best, we buy it. About 300 pounds it takes for 
our family for a year, in three-pound tin cans. The butter this year came 
in from Minnesota. We have a year's supply. We buy every three or 
four months. The housekeeper in our family is a woman who looks after 
that part. I am not a housekeeper. She goes to the wholesale meat 
butcher, she knows how to handle beef, having studied the question care- 
fully, and she buys the meat in wholesale quantities, — carcasses of mutton, 
sides and loins or ribs or whatever we want, in regular wholesale prices. 
Then it is cut into household quantities — steaks, chops, meats for stewing, 
soup bones, suet and all the rest of it. These cuts are made up in small 
quantities as our household demands them. They are put into the freezer, 
sealed, each package being packed and numbered and our household ledger 
— instead of attending to these things over the telephone we run our house 
by means of our household ledger — will show for instance "No. 7," which 
means so many chops, "No. 5," which means a certain weight of roast, 
and so on. We buy apples by the barrel, put them in coolers. We buy 
cranberries, 32-quart cases, hold them for a year if we want to. We also 
put in baskets of corn. We are having corn off the cob just as fresh as you 
have it from the stalk. We are getting the benefit of wholesale prices 
and we are getting better food than we ever did in our lives, because we are 
going back to the very first source of production of handling. We put in 
the best food we can get. We are running the household account on an 
economical and efficient basis. We are getting our money's worth out of 
it, and it has made housekeeping a very fascinating experiment indeed, and 
a business proposition. Whereas, from the ordinary telephone point-of- 
view, whether it is 2 cents' worth of something you want, it takes 5 cents 
to supply it and you don't get what you order at that. Our way is much 
better. 

Mrs. Smith: I asked Dr. Pennington if I could do this and she said 
"No, I couldn't." But, for instance, if a number of women clubbed 
together to learn what our households wanted^ — I am not at all scientific 
myself — we could put into storage our particular packages, and follow out 
the storage system as she has outlined. In that way we could have a 
supply that would reduce the high cost of living to a minimum. 

Delegate: Has she different departments for different things at 
different temperatures, or are they all at the same temperature? 

Dr. Pennington : Yes. You can divide into the necessary tempera- 
tures. You can hold all your vegetables and your food-stuffs that don't 
have to be frozen, ordinarily at 32, and what is ordinarily to be frozen 
is held at 10. So the arrangement of temperatures is not so great for 
ordinary purposes. The larger the unit the greater the efficiency. 

Delegate: Refrigeration, especially for a private home, is rather 
expensive, isn't it? 



148 

Dr. Pennington : We are using public refrigeration houses. 

Delegate : Isn't it one of the difficulties of cold storage taking care 
of the stuff after it leaves there? It seems to me it wouldn't keep very long 
after it comes out of cold storage. 

Dr. Pennington: I might say that in modern cold storage plants 
they are never out of the proper temperature. 

Mr. Horne: In Atlantic City yesterday, in discussing the question 
of apples, it was stated that apples after being taken out of cold storage 
kept better than apples kept in common storage, and after being taken out 
of storage they showed up better than apples kept in common storage for 
a like period. 

Delegate : How about peaches? 

Mr. Horne: Peaches in cold storage are not kept for a long time, 
generally or usually only for several weeks or a month. 

Delegate : I notice the skin usually falls off. 

Mr. Horne: I have been in the business for quite a number of years, 
and peaches never kept over a month or six weeks; that is the limit. 

Mrs. Smith: Is it the consensus of opinion among cold-storage people 
interested in cold storage, that there should be a cold storage law? 

Mr. Horne: There is a law which provides for selling cold storage 
goods for what they are. They passed a measure restricting the time 
limits. 

Mr. Brown: How would you remove the prejudice from the con- 
sumer's mind that the price is established through cold storage houses? 

Mr. Horne: That is quite a problem. I think our friends are reason- 
able men whom we have had listening to us, and who will study the subject 
honestly and deliberately. I am sure when we get a fair chance at them, 
and I believe I am stating a fact, that the reporters who are here represent- 
ing the newspapers are not responsible for what is contained in the news- 
papers, but the city editor's fault who is looking for sensation, for something 
that is unusual. The usual, regular, wholesome news is not the stuff they 
want to print, or put in their headlines. 

Delegate : You are right on that. 

Delegate: How do you provide for your marketing? 

Dr. Pennington : We market twice a week, make our menus ten days 
ahead. We take out a basket load of meats each week. Of course, butter 
and eggs, peaches and fruits, are easier to handle. It is your fish and 
poultry you must start on time. The basket comes out Thursday because 
we have fish Friday, and fish is the first thing you must use Friday night, 
thawed out and ready to eat. Always leave it thaw out where it is cool and 
dry. Fish, Friday night, Saturday night, chops, and on Sunday, roast. 
In the summer time you place your meat in the refrigerator so it ripens 



149 

gradually in your ice box, and by Sunday your roast is ready to eat. Mut- 
ton ripens first. If you have roast chicken it takes considerably longer to 
ripen. They are picked well, then put in the ice box where they are cooled. 
I know it takes three or four days for a roaster to ripen properly ; it takes 
about three days for a broiler to ripen. It takes, of course, from 24 to 48 
hours for a chicken to thaw. It comes to the house frozen. These are 
some of the problems of supplying your own home and family. Besides, 
a man is needed to help out in the work generally. This is how your menu 
is made up and carried out from the time it leaves cold storage until it is 
served in the form of a meal on your table. The basket goes out 14 miles 
by railroad, and then returned and delivered to the house from the sta- 
tion by the ordinary carriages. 

Delegate: Can you soft boil an egg after it has been in storage a 
year? 

Dr. Pennington: Yes, you can boil it, but whether you can eat it 
or not I don't know. I never tried it and I don't think I would. 

Delegate: Yes, certainly it can be done. I tried it after 14 months. 
We just tried it for an experiment, after 14 months. I represented the 
storage house and the egg dealer. 

Mr. McDonald : I move that we offer a vote of thanks to Dr. Pen- 
nington, Professor King, and Mr. Miller and Mr. Home for their able 
addresses here this afternoon. 

[Motion seconded and carried by unanimous rising vote.] 

[Adjournment until the evening session.] 



Council Chamber, City Hall, Friday Evening, 8 o'Clock. 



Chairman, Charles Z. Tryon, Esquire, President, Hardware Mer- 
chants' and Manufacturers' Association. 

Mr. Tryon in opening the meeting spoke as follows: Mr. Calwell, 
Ladies and Gentlemen: I take it that the problem of all civilization is to 
devise ways and means whereby men may live together in communities 
with a just proportion of comfort, convenience and happiness to all. The 
savage was never hampered with any such conditions. He killed his enemies 
without legal complications, . he found his own food in the forest without 
the necessity of the railway or the store, he grew his own corn and he 
carried his skins to the nearest trading post and swapped them for such 
articles as he needed in the way of powder, shot and simple clothing without 
recourse to any medium of exchange. 

Now all the varied complications of the civilized life of today — the 
great storehouses, great banking institutions, our railways and granaries, 
are simply complications that have arisen because we are now endeavoring 
to live in greatly congested communities. We are all trying to solve, under 
very difficult conditions, the problem of civilized life, that is, to live together 
in some measure of harmony, comfort, justice and happiness to all. 

Men have discovered and invented many things. They have experi- 
mented with the great forces of nature with wonderful results. Some 
things have been tried so many times that we may feel positively sure of 
definite results. Others are still uncertain, but I ask you to remember 
that there is at least one thing about which we may be absolutely sure, 
and that is the unchangeable and positive law of nature. There is nothing 
quite so positive and sure as agriculture. 

Engineers may build wonderful structures, and up to a certain point 
the accumulated wisdom of centuries tells them that a structure will 
stand a certain amount of weight or pressure; beyond that point these 
engineers are uncertain. A man may build a twenty story building, but 
he is not sure that he can rent the rooms. A railroad can project its lines 
into a new country, but many of them have failed before that country 
could sustain the railroad. But when we come to mother nature in her 
primitive form, we are at once upon a sound foundation with absolutely 
no uncertainty. You may lose faith in mechanics, in science, in philosophy, 
and even in religion, but there is one solid rock upon which you can always 
stand no matter who you are or where you are, and that rock is natural 
law. Under certain given conditions, nature will always do the same thing. 

When you take a seed that is living and put it into the ground, give 
it proper natural surroundings and conditions, it will grow and you cannot 

(150) 



151 

stop it unless you root it out and kill it. We know the sun will rise to- 
morrow. We know that next spring crops will grow. It is upon this 
basis which every man actually lives, whether he recognizes the fact or not. 

If, therefore, agriculture may be considered the basis of all life, and 
we find ourselves in congested communities, detached of necessity from 
close contact and association with this foundation of life, it is at once 
evident that the greatest problem of modern days is to get the proper 
adjustment between the producer and the consumer, but in making this 
statement, dividing the producer from the consumer, we make a state- 
ment which is not exactly true, because as a matter of fact all are pro- 
ducers and consumers. 

This convention is for the purpose of determining whether or not 
the present arrangements between the producers and consumers is the 
best that can be thought out, but whatever our deliberations may lead 
to, we must recognize the fact that the present methods are the result 
of slow progressive changes, society adjusting itself at each point as new 
conditions have arisen, and no radical and completely successful rearrange- 
ment can possibly be adopted in any short space of time. Let me diverge 
for one moment. I happen to be personally one of those terrible middle- 
men that we now hear so much about, who stands between the producer 
and the consumer. I happen to be a jobber, but I represent tonight 
the Hardware Merchants' and Manufacturers' Association of Philadelphia, 
composed of the great manufacturing industries of Philadelphia and the 
great hardware distributing houses. 

It is not my purpose to go into a discussion of the question of jobbers. 
You probably have discussed that at many of your meetings. I believe 
the jobber is a necessity, otherwise he would not exist, and so I believe 
the middleman and the distributor of agriculture is a necessity. 

Now what do we do in the hardware business in the effort to adjust 
ourselves to the complicated conditions of trade? We have formed this 
association of manufacturers and jobbers, and we get together once a 
month in friendly intercourse, and there we thrash out in a spirit of good 
fellowship our differences. This I claim is the difference between modern 
trade and that of a few decades ago. People who have interests that 
are divergent or partially in harmony and partially divergent, instead of 
standing off at long range and fighting out the battle by correspondence, 
meet face to face and talk the situation over. 

In a larger sense that is just what world's fairs are for, so that people 
from the rural districts can see how shoes are made, how clothes are 
made, what thought has been required in designing them; and the man 
from the city sees the great agricultural products there exhibited. So 
this convention is for the same purpose of bringing together the man that 
produces the great natural wealth of the country and the man that pro- 
duces other things, so that each shall have an inteUigent appreciation of 
the other's viewpoint of life. 



152 

I understand that this evening is to be very largely devoted to an 
illustrated lecture upon the education of our boys and girls in relation to 
the fundamentals of life. How simple, and yet how vastly important; 
as a matter of fact it is just exactly what every parent is trying to do. 
I can look back upon no experience in my life which I consider of more 
value than three summers which I spent as a boy upon a farm, harrow- 
ing corn, working in the truck garden, picking potatoes, making hay, 
thrashing, milking and a hundred and one things incidental to that hfe. 
I learned then, as I should never have learned since, the language of every 
barnyard fowl and the practice and customs of the men who form in 
reality the backbone of our nation — The American Farmer. [Applause.] 
Now this advantage is rarely given to the city youth, just as the problems 
of city life are rarely exhibited to the agriculturist. Consequently the 
proper adjustment has been long delayed, but such meetings as these 
will rapidly clear the ground for an intelligent understanding of the whole 
situation by all parties. 

What is the condition in Pennsylvania today regarding these men 
upon whom every one of us in the city depends? What has the farmer 
done that his children may know how, intelligently, to get the very best 
of mother nature, — she is bursting with good things, if they but know 
how to gather nothing less than the best. 

We have agricultural colleges which are doing a magnificent work, 
and many of our yoiing men are attending these institutions, but what 
we need are agricultural schools that will charge a nominal price for the 
proper education of the youth of our farming districts. There is perhaps 
too much head and tail to our system of agricultural education today 
and not enough body. This is the trouble with too many of the projects 
today which are launched at the hands of our legislatures. I repeat, it 
is this secondary education that is desired in this state, and what we 
want is men who can get back into the country and teach the people 
what is the best modern method to pursue in the raising of their crops. 
That I take it is a part of what is hoped to be accomplished by these 
conventions, together with the equally important matters of agricultural 
banking; relations to the railroad, middlemen, warehouse companies, etc. 

In closing may I say that the boys' camps which are now being 
instituted in our mountain districts, where young men and boys are sent 
in the summer time rather than to our fashionable hotels, are a splendid 
course in the line of healthful education, but if I had the opportunity to 
choose between sending a son of mine to one of these camps or of send- 
ing him for the summer months to a farm, offering him the opportunity 
of getting into the closest possible touch with nature, I would decide to 
send him to that farm instead of to the boys' camp. [Applause.] 

Mrs. Smith: We have with us tonight Mr. A. P. Sandles, President 
of Ohio Agricultural Commission, who is responsible for the work along 



153 

secondary educational lines in Ohio. Mr. Sandles can be of the greatest 
benefit to us and to this State in saying a few words to us on the work he 
has been doing out there. Almost all the states are doing better work 
along this line than Pennsylvania. This Ohio trip shows us what they are 
doing in Ohio in that direction. I am only too sorry that I am obliged to 
limit him in his remarks to about eight minutes. 

Me. a. p. Sandles (President, Ohio Agri,cultural Commission): 
How many in this place tonight have at some time in their lives lived on a 
farm? [Hands raised.] How many now live on farms? [Hands raised.] 
I imagine that the conference you now have in progress is a good business 
to be in. I am sure that suggestions will be made here that will enlarge 
your view and your vision, and your power to do good where good must be 
done, if the wealth and strength of this nation are to continue and to be 
perpetuated. We come to your city today one thousand and five, boys and 
girls, who have accomplishment to their credit. Ohio is getting what it 
has long needed, and what other states need, and that is, enthusiasm right 
back in the cornfield and in the kitchen. [Applause.] We have 150 girls 
who have won prizes at baking, sewing and canning; girls who are emu- 
lating the housekeeping virtues of their mothers in the kitchen, and that 
kind of virtue means more than the Tango and Turkey-Trot athletics of 
modern days. [Applause.] The girl who can cook a meal and bake bread is 
making fewer divorce cases for the future courts. 

We have with us boys who are working out their own problems, boys 
who in their eagerness to win are consulting the Director of the Experi- 
mental Station of Ohio, who is here tonight. Director Thorne. The boys 
who are getting licked in this contest are good soldiers. They say, "We 
will fight again," but before we do it we are going down to the College 
of Agriculture at Columbus, and we are going to get some scientific knowl- 
edge, and we will get the measure of that other son-of-a-gun who beat us 
last year. [Applause.] 

We have here tonight Dean Price, who if he had time could stand up 
here and testify how the College of Agriculture attendance is multiplying 
every year, and we are doing something for the boy uniformed in overalls 
right back in the cornfield. Yesterday when we were in the White House, 
being royally received there, it was the Log House shaking hands with 
the White House. 

We are giving to the boys of Ohio the conviction that they can win 
victories, can see something of the world, and win some of its honors and 
distinctions on the farm, as well as the boy and girl who lives off the farm. 
We are giving to the boys and girls in Ohio the opportunity to get their 
names and their pictures in the newspapers of the state of Ohio. Don't 
you know I would rather publish the name and picture of the boy who can 
raise 100 bushels of corn to the acre, or the girl who can win a domestic 
science contest— I would rather publish that kind of a picture on the first 



154 

page of a newspaper than I would Jack Johnson or Harry Thaw. 
[Applause.] 

My good friends, we have got the corn and dirt religion in Ohio working 
in every county, every township and every nook and corner, every school, 
every church, the Y. M. C. A., the Grange, the Chamber of Commerce, and 
the bankers and the railroad men are trying to get into good society in 
Ohio. [Applause.] 

My good friends, we have an example never before equaled in the 
world, of $40,000 being contributed in good money of volunteer subscrip- 
tions to pay the expenses of boys and girls to the national capital, and to the 
good old city of Brotherly Love. It is the public spirit in Ohio that is 
paying the bill, and not the public treasury. It has taken hold everywhere. 
We are learning out there that our government has been stimulating 
manufacturers, as well as many other lines, that at last, when the high-cost 
of living is a menace to the welfare and happiness of this country, our 
nation and people are turning the corner-stone and bed-rocked wealth and 
prosperity, and that is, agriculture. 

My good friends, I wish I had a little more time, but I am going to 
cut it short, to tell you what a wonderful hold it has had, how much inspira- 
tion it has given to the boys and girls. 

Don't you know that a lot of farmers are so stingy and narrow-gauged 
that they make little money-mills out of the boys, trying to extract every 
penny from their labor. They let them eat and sleep in the house, but make 
them work like horses, and they don't want the boy to get any more pleasure 
out of life than the horse is getting. That is just what is taking a lot of 
boys and girls off the farm, and it is this contest work, this encouraging 
the boy in the field that is making him fall in love with the dirt religion in 
Ohio. 

My good friends, I want to place on exhibition here tonight three of 
our products, two of ours and one of Pennsylvania. Mr. Bright, I want 
you to stand up. Here is a manly young man, who went to work and put 
his head in the game, and by studying drainage and fertilization, and good 
seed-bed, won the championship prize as a wheat-grower in Ohio — 54 
bushels, 37 pounds, and that is a splendid victory not only for Earl Bright, 
but for humanity. This little gold badge was given to him by the boys 
and girls of his township because he won the honor for his community. 
Earl is a good fellow, and I have given him a certificate to pick out any 
young lady he wants in the whole cammunity. 

Mr. Rose, stand up. This manly young fellow, unmarried [laughter], 
raised 131to bushels on one acre. [Applause.] That is splendid. And 
when a boy puts a grain of corn in the ground and gets two ears, and 
contributes that to the wealth of the world, that boy is contributing more 
to the cause of humanity than Jack Johnson, the prize fighter, ever did. 
[Applause.] One hundred and thirty-one bushels stand to his credit, and 
our three thousand boys in Ohio this year in the corn contest will average 



155 

eighty bushels. The ten-year average in Ohio is about thirty-five or 
thirty-six, and we have got a whole lot of boys in Ohio who are forty or 
fifty bushels better than a man, and that is good. 

The next boy is John Robinson, a squire of Pennsylvania. This 
young man is the champion corn-grower of Old Pennsylvania in the yesiV 
1913. [Applause.] We learned about his little victory, and we are doing 
the same thing for the boys and girls in Ohio, and when we learned about 
this young man, we had him meet our train at Altoona, where we picked 
him up and he has been with us ever since. He is a manly little fellow, and 
Pennsylvania ought to be proud of him, because Ohio is. Three years ago 
he was out in Ohio, one of our boys, going to school there, you know. 
[Applause.] 

I want you to give the boys and girls the right kind of encouragement, 
get them inspired with the desire to want more of the knowledge of farming. 
When we take these three thousand reports, we tabulate them, and put 
on the outside the boys who tested their seed and get their average per acre ; 
then we take the boys over here who did not test the seed and get their 
average per acre, and then we have got the best proof in the world that it 
pays to test seed corn, and so forth with tillage and fertilization. Don't 
you know that it is just a splendid thing to have six trains start out of 
Ohio last Monday, stopping here and there picking up a car load of human- 
ity. That was a splendid thing. Then, coming to the national capital, 
and standing at the tomb of Washington. It was the cornfield and kitchen 
that gave them that honor, and that opportunity, and when I asked the 
boys to give a vote of thanks to the old farm, you ought to have seen the 
lot of caps come off and the cheers that went up. It counts. That is 
what we are doing in Ohio. 

I think I have talked about two minutes longer than your Chairman 
asked me to talk, but it is something that has got hold of Ohio, and it 
ought to get a hold of you. Go right back and give encouragement to the 
boy and girl who is doing the business. Much obliged. 

Mrs. Smith at this point introduced Mr. Pierce, of Maryland, who said 
that he was a little ashamed of what they had done in Maryland after 
hearing some of the Ohio people. He explained the different processes of 
raising corn in Maryland and outlined the excellent results that have been 
obtained therefrom. 

Mrs. Smith then introduced Mr. Thorn, Director of the Experiment 
Station, in Ohio, who spoke as follows: 

Mr. Thorn : Mr. Sandles has told you that the average yield of corn 
in Ohio is 35 and 36 bushels. It was that fifty years ago. It has not 
increased in that period of time. Our average yield of wheat is 143/2 
bushels. Fifty years ago it was 123/^. We have gained two bushels of 
wheat in half a century, largely owing to the increased use of commercial 



156 

fertilizers in our state during the last twenty-five years of this period. At 
the experiment station we have a splendid series of experiment, the most 
extensive series of field experiments in the western hemisphere or in the 
world. We have been showing for the last ten years that it was eminently 
possible and practicable to double, or nearly double the yields of corn and 
wheat in Ohio, and do it by measures within the reach of every farmer 
within the state. We have made an effort to reach the average farmer 
within the state. There are 275,000 of them in Ohio. Of that number, 
65,000 have thought it worth while to waste a postal card in requesting 
the bulletins of the Experiment Station. They will not come to us; they 
will not listen to us; and you have the same history in Pennsylvania. 
Mr. Sandles, however, has solved the riddle for us. He has cut the Gordian 
knot by getting past the farmer to the farmer's boy, and through the 
farmer's boy we are going to reach the farmers of Ohio; we are going to 
revolutionize the agriculture of our state within the next ten or fifteen 
years. I thank you. 

Mrs. Smith: We have with us Mr. Agee, formerly of Pennsylvania 
State College, but now with New Jersey. We would like to hear from him. 

Mr. Agee: Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: I would like 
to make the claim and a true one that I am a Buckeye, because I am very 
proud of my native state, Ohio, this evening. I am proud of the fact that 
in our state of Ohio we have such co-operation in all of our agricultural 
agencies, and that there is no overlapping, that the money is expended in 
the wisest way, and that the state is as a miit promoting the art of agricul- 
ture. I have a right to feel proud, as I spent my boyhood and many later 
years in my native state. 

Now, my good friends, your Chairman has insisted that I appear 
before you, but really I have no special message. It seems to be a time 
for congratulation that we are awakening to the fact that we have the 
science that relates to agriculture; that we can interest our young people 
in it; and that they will naturally go back to rural life, because there is a 
science connected with it, because there is opportunity. I believe every- 
body in this world should work. Most people must work. I would like 
to see all of our boys and girls have an opportunity while in school to get 
some training to travel along the line of their natural bent. I believe one- 
half of the boys and girls of this country would naturally turn to rural life 
if they believed there was opportunity in it. I believe the schools should 
use for training subjects some of the knowledge which shall enable that 
fifty per cent, if I guess aright, to grab a-hold of the world's work when they 
go out in the rural districts, rather than in the centers of population. 

You talk about the drift to the cities, and you deplore it, but the only 
possible thing to do is to give that fifty per cent of our youthful population 
their rights, which is a knowledge of the science which is concerned with 
rural life. A little bit of knowledge will enable them to get hold of the 



157 

work as they leave school, and most of them will get no further than the 
High School — a knowledge of the standing, a knowledge of the intellectual 
standing, and that it is possible for them, if they want to, to master the 
sciences that do concern the soils, plants and animals. You can stop that 
drift to the city, that should not occur, by letting those who are nature 
lovers have an opportunity for such development that they will naturally 
turn where they belong — to country life. You have many speakers. That 
is a distinguished row of talent on the front seat, every one of them almost, 
old friends of mine for 25 and 30 years back. You do not want to hear 
from me. Mrs. Smith has many speakers for the evening, anyway. I am 
glad of the chance of coming before you. I am part Pennsylvanian also. 
The happiest years of my life were spent in Pennsylvania, at Pennsylvania 
State College, where we had the fun of seeing the courses in agriculture 
grow, and a' school of agriculture built up, that, if you Pennsylvanians will 
support aright, will become one of the greatest agents for good in all these 
United States. It is going to turn the youth of this state towards rural 
pursuits as they never have been before. I thank you. 

Mrs. Smith: I will ask Mr. McDowell, of Pennsylvania State College, 
to speak to us and tell what he is doing in extension work; and to tell you 
also what we could do if we Pennsylvanians got awake after the conference 
and support the extension movement as it should be supported. 



AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE EXTENSION SERVICE. 



By Professor M. S. McDowell, 

Pennsylvania State College, School of Agriculture. 



Ladies and Gentlemen: Some time ago, when land was cheap and the 
cost of living was comparatively low, the farmer was a negligible quantity 
except possibly at certain seasons of the year. Today he is a very much 
sought-after individual. 

I have been much interested in the splendid showing made by our 
friends from Ohio. I am sure that the young men and women they have 
brought here will be an inspiration, not only to Ohio people, but to we 
Pennsylvanians as well. 

Mr. Agee referred to the fact that there has been developed much 
information along scientific lines. This information has been developed 
from many sources. The Experiment Stations have had a large part in 
developing that information. The problem of the extension work is to 
get this information before the farmers in an efficient way. In the exten- 
sion work which we are doing at State College the aim is not only to assist 
in increasing production but to increase it at a greater net return for the 
farmer. Any business man, when he puts additional money into that 
business, is putting it in with the idea of reaping a reasonable profit on 
that extra investment. So it is with the farmer. If he makes two blades 
of grass grow where one grew before, he must do it with a greater net profit. 
It is not altogether simply a problem of growing more than had been grown 
before. The educational factor is a large factor in increasing those net 
returns. There are other problems involved, some of which have been 
discussed here. Even in connection with problems of distribution, the edu- 
cational factor is a very large one. 

I want to take a short time to tell you what we are doing in the 
agricultural extension work in Pennsylvania. In the first place, we have 
a winter course in agriculture designed for the young men and young 
women who do not have the time or money, and who are not prepared to 
spend four years or two years in training for their lifework, but who can 
spend twelve weeks during the winter months in getting some training. 

We now have 176 students. Six of them are women. In three 
instances men and their wives are taking the course. The work is arranged 
by subjects so that the individual may get the things in which he is 
interested. If he is interested in dairying he can take work along that line. 
Those interested in fruit can take branches relating to horticulture. Some 

(158) 



159 

will be interested in general farming. They can choose the particular 
things that they need. The student is given some practical science which 
underlies his business that he can take back and put' in use on his own 
farm. 

It may be rather interesting to know that of the 176 pupils there this 
year in the short course, 15 of them were there last year taking the course 
and came back again this year to get subjects that could not be given to 
them a year ago. The increase in numbers this year is one-fourth to one- 
third more than it was last year. 

During the year we have Farmers' Week. This is offered to place the 
facilities of the institution at the service of the farmers of the state so that 
the farmer himself may go to College for at least a week. It is necessary 
to hold this meeting at a time of the year when the regular students are 
away from the College in order to accommodate the people. The meeting 
the present year will be held December 29 to January 3. Over 150 lectures 
and demonstrations of practical interest and value to farmers will be given. 
The faculty will be assisted by well-known experts from outside the state. 
It gives me pleasure to state that one of them is a pioneer in agricultural 
research. He has done as much as any other man in this country towards 
the upbuilding of agriculture. I refer to the gentleman whom you had the 
pleasure of hearing from a few minutes ago, Director Thorne of the Ohio 
Experiment Station. 

Last year we had 700 farmers in attendance and we hope this year 
to double that if possible. They represented 59 comities in Pennsylvania 
and we hope this year they may represent 67 counties of the state. 

We also maintain correspondence courses. There are 36 different 
courses in agriculture offered by correspondence. These consist of a series 
of lessons. A list of questions accompanies each lesson. Another lesson 
is not sent until the list of questions which has accompanied the lesson is 
returned and the answers are corrected. The answers are marked wrong 
if they are wrong and if it seems necessary comment is made by underlining 
in red ink so that when the papers go back the student will see where there 
was error. This enables the instructor to keep in close touch with the 
students. 

It may be interesting to know that 4,000 students are pursuing the 
work in these courses at the present time and 60 per cent of those wh6 start 
the course finish it. 

For a number of years we have been sending an exhibit to the county 
fairs. The county fair should be primarily an educational proposition. 
The exhibit that we send shows the result of some of the more important 
experiments conducted by the Experiment Station and the practical 
application of these results to farm practice. 

In addition to the educational exhibit stock representing various 
breeds of dairy cattle, beef cattle, sheep and swine are exhibited. We have 
been sending within the last year accompanying each animal a card pointing 



160 

out the good and bad points. The exhibit is prepared in dupUcate. It 
is housed in a large tent 30 by 80 feet. Last fair season 14 fairs were 
visited and 500,000 people passed through the tents. Two men from the 
College accompanied the exhibit. These men met the people and answered 
inquiries. Thousands of farmers were gotten in touch with and thousands 
of questions were answered. 

There are many requests for examination of farms and advice. These 
requests are met so far as possible. Within the last two months or two 
and a half months, thirty such requests have been met. In instances of 
this kind those asking the service pay the traveling expenses of the 
examiner. 

Pennsylvania is a great dairy state. We try to serve the interests 
of the dairyman. One man gives practically all of his time to visiting 
individual dairymen of a community, discussing problems with them and 
trying to form a cow testing association. Such an association makes it 
possible for a dairyman to know what each animal in his herd is doing. 
They may be enabled to buy feed more economically and enabled to feed 
their cows to better advantage and reap a larger net profit. 

There is not time, however, to go into the testing question. 

We have had a number of excursions to the College. The Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad ran three in June of last year and brought 1800 people. 
That enables us to get in touch with the farmers in a manner that is not 
possible in any other way. It enables the people to see the direct relation 
between science on the one hand and practice on the other. By looking 
over the fertilizer plats they can see the remarkable differences. They 
could go out in some of the fields and see what the result of practical appli- 
cation of these results to those fields were. It enables us to get in closer 
touch with them and be of more service to them. 

One of the movements that has been referred to in extension service 
is the county agent work. There are nine counties in Pennsylvania in 
which county agents have been placed. They are under the supervision 
of a state leader who is a member of our extension staff. There has been 
considerable discussion of the county agent here and I shall not take time 
to discuss it now except to say it gives personal touch which is necessary to 
do practical work. 

I 'would like to take a minute to call your attention to one or two 
things that have been accomplished by the county agent. I have in mind 
one county agent where recently, in a public institution in that county, 
the feed bill was reduced fifty per cent at the same time the milk flow was 
increased. Another instance: An agent from one of the northern counties, 
where corn does not grow so well, sent some samples to be entered in the 
contest here this week. I would like right here to take this opportunity 
of congratulating the Corn Exchange National Bank for the work they are 
doing in organizing this corn contest. There is nothing that stimulates 
interest like competition. A county agent in one of the northern counties 



161 

sent some samples of corn to be entered in this contest. They had in that 
northern county two classes of corn. This corn won one first prize and one 
second prize. That shows some of the things that it is possible to do. 
The College has had some little part in the organization of boys' corn 
contests in Pennsylvania. We have not been able to accomplish as much 
as Ohio but if all the boys engaged in such work were organized and gotten 
together there probably would be close to 1,000 of them. The county agent 
in Lancaster County was in touch during the year with 700 boys; Mercer 
County had 200. So while we do not equal Ohio we are doing something 
along that line. 

There is a great demand for speakers at agricultural meetings and 
conferences and for judges at fairs and similar meetings. All these demands 
are met so far as possible. 

The correspondence that goes through the Extension Department is 
very heavy. Thousands of letters are answered yearly in reply to inquiries. 
In a general way this covers what is being done in the Extension Depart- 
ment. As to what may be done we have found by experience that the most 
satisfactory way of accomplishing results is by direct contact and concen- 
tration upon the chief problems of a community. We found that we were 
reaching the farmers in eastern Pennsylvania to a greater extent than the 
farmers in western Pennsylvania. In order to get around that we decided 
to hold a Farmers' Week in western Pennsylvania. For four or five years 
we have been holding those meetings in western Pennsylvania. Some of 
the main problems have been persistently emphasized and practical results 
can be seen from these meetings. There is no reason why the same thing 
could not be accomplished in every county and in every district in the state. 

Probably the thing that offers the greatest field for development is 
the development of the county agent work to which reference has been 
made. Nine counties have been organized and there is a demand from 
several additional counties to have county agents placed there. There 
are no funds available at the present time unless raised entirely by local 
people. This will mean eventually that Pennsylvania will be organized 
with agents in every county or district. It will mean that in addition 
to the present state leader there must be district leaders who will have 
charge of certain counties in order that the work may be properly super- 
vised. 

All of this work involves an immense amount of labor and patience, 
and I say the latter advisedly. I would like to strike this note here. There 
is a great demand all over the country today for county agents. This 
movement is not limited entirely by the lack of funds but just as much by 
the lack of men prepared to do the work. It is easy to get men but it is 
not easy to get men who will fit into the situation. It is unwise to put a 
man as a county agent into a county unless he is capable of carrying that 
work to a successful conclusion. They must be prepared to do it and it can 
grow only as the men are prepared to do it. All this is going to require a 



162 

great amount of labor, patience and a large amount of money. The labor 
we can get; the patience we must have in any event; whether or not the 
money will be available depends upon those for whom this service is being 
rendered. 

In closing I desire to call your attention to the fact that some of you 
may be of great assistance in the matter of the bill that is pending before 
Congress at the present time. This Lever Bill (House Bill No. 7951) 
provides for national funds for each state for carrying on this extension 
work; $10,000 is appropriated outright to each state. In addition it 
provides for an initial appropriation of $300,000 to be distributed among 
the several states in proportion that the total rural population of that 
state bears to the total rural population of the entire country. I think 
Pennsylvania's percentage would be a little over six per cent. This amount 
is increased annually for ten years. It further provides that each state 
must duplicate the appropriation before it becomes available. A word 
to your Congressman or Senator may assist in bringing the early passage of 
that bill. 

And finally I wish to take this opportunity of expressing our apprecia- 
tion to the bankers of the state and to all the others who are in attendance 
at this conference for the very valuable and helpful service rendered during 
the campaign before the legislature last winter. 

Mr. Calwell: How much money did you get from Harrisburg 
previous to the last Assembly for extension work? 

Mr. McDowell: There was no money appropriated specifically for 
extension work. The money used for extension work was taken out of 
the general maintenance, but last year was the first time that the legislature 
made a specific appropriation for extension work — $20,000 for two years. 

Mr. Calwell: $10,000 for each year? 

Mr. McDowell: Yes, that is what it amounts to. 

Mr. Calwell: You cannot do very much work on that. 

Mr. McDowell: No; supplementing that, in addition to the present 
funds, we will have to have about $18,000, all told, because in addition to 
the half of the $20,000 there has been some money taken from the general 
maintenance for extension work during the present year. 

Mrs. Smith: What did New York get last year? 

Mr. McDowell: I think New York is spending in the neighborhood 
of $500,000 a year in extension work. 

Mr. Calwell: How many counties have farm agents? 

Mr. McDowell: Nine. 

Mr. Calwell: How many counties have we? 

Mr. McDowell: Sixty-seven. 



163 

Mr. Calwell: We have sixty-seven counties and have but nine 
county agents in sixty-seven counties. 

Mr. McDowell: Yes. 

Mrs. Smith: Our association fought a bitter fight last winter to get 
the legislature to take notice of this situation. The bankers also did 
something for the situation, and they are going to do a great deal more in 
this matter, I am quite sure, in the future, so it is up to the farmers to 
demand in this state, as they did in New York, that an appropriation shall 
be made. It is not the legislature that is at fault; it is the farmers. The 
legislature will do what you want it to do; it will not do anything else. 
If you don't care, the legislature does not care. It is up to us farmers. 
We need the things for our children and it must be done in this state. There 
is nothing more critical. 

We are now going to call upon Mr. Benson. We have been stealing 
his time right along, and we are going to stay a little later to give him a 
chance to show his slides. 



BOYS' AND GIRLS' CORN AND TOMATOES CLUBS. 



By O. H. Benson, 

Specialist in Charge of Club Work, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Office of 

Farm Management. 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: I have baen delegated by 
the U. S. Department of Agriculture, and invited by your Program Com- 
mittee, to appear this evening in further support of the boys' and girls' 
club work. My department at Washington will expect me to say and do 
enough to warrant the expense of sending me here, and your committee 
will expect me to say and do something. It is already late and time for 
most of us to seek our "trundle beds." 

If I presume to keep you a bit later tonight than it is your custom to 
remain out, no doubt you will forgive me under the circumstances. 

During the past few years it has been my duty to travel much out into 
the states in the interest of boys' and girls' club work. With the exception 
of Ohio, all of the regular and national club work has been in co-operation 
with and through the extension departments of the colleges of agriculture. 
We recognize that the state colleges are the legitimate institutions 
through which the regular state extension work in agriculture should be 
performed. In the support of this position the U. S. Department of Agri- 
culture has been paying one-half the expense of one or more state 
leaders in each of the twenty states in club work. This leader is selected 
by the college authorities and is directly supervised by the head of the 
Extension -Department; such arrangements have been perfected in twenty 
states in the Union; all the Southern and the following in the North: 
Massachusetts, Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Utah and Oregon. 
In addition, we have tentative arrangements through the appointment ^of 
club collaborators in the following states, who are all ready for the Federal 
half-and-half plan, as soon as additional funds are available : Connecticut, 
Rhode Island, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Idaho, Wash- 
ington, Kansas and California. 

We appreciate the fact today as never before, that if we are to have a 
constructive agriculture, a permanent and promising rural life, we will 
not make much headway by devoting all of our time, energy and money 
in talking to and in the instructing of the adult farmers. Unfortunately, 
many of the adult farmers now on the firing line have too many years of 
habit back of them. And second, they have too much of prejudice for a 
free and efficient use of the newer ideas in agriculture and farm management 
values. On the contrary, the average American boy is open minded, has 

(164) 



165 

an open heart and has a whole hfework ahead of him. When the follow-up 
instructions are furnished, they will be accepted as a whole, and not with 
the proverbial "grain of salt;" but earnestly and with all his heart, the boy 
translates the pages of instruction into action upon the acres and for the 
good of agriculture. 

This is exactly the reason why the young people from the states in 
the past, as well as for the present year, have a record of real achievement, 
and these boys before you tonight, the one from Ohio with a report of over 
130 bushels of corn to the acre, and the boy from a Pennsylvania county, 
with his yield of 144 bushels. I congratulate you, boys, for this achieve- 
ment, and for what you have contributed to your community and state, 
for the good of agriculture. The Pennsylvanians will be interested to 
know that another boy, by the name of Charles Yohe, of Tower City, made 
a yield of nearly 200 bushels of corn to the acre during the past season, 
and that he will doubtless be the champion in the club work for the entire 
State of Pennsylvania. [Applause.] Charles Yohe has not only submitted 
his official report, but has had it properly attested by two disinterested 
witnesses, and it shows a handsome net profit on investment. It is neces- 
sary at this point to make an explanation — the two yields above reported 
from your own state were both made based upon field measurement of ear 
corn. Both of these yields will be very materially reduced when the air- 
dry 56 lbs. of shelled corn per bushel rule is applied as the standard. The 
144 bushels will probably be 100 or less, while the 200 bushel record, when 
thus reduced, will probably be in the neighborhood of 115 or 120 bushels. 

Ladies and gentlemen, at the present time America is unfortunate 
in the fact that she does not have a definite American type of farmer. 
We have the German farmer, the Swedish farmer, the Dane, the Irishman 
(most of these, by the way, are farmer policemen), and from these various 
European countries we have been extremely fortunate in securing the 
types that constitute our most enduring and economical type of farming. 
But you and I will have to search the map over very carefully to be able 
to find even a small settlement or community of the enduring and construc- 
tive type of American farmers, to which I refer. There are perhaps a 
few small communities in eastern Pennsylvania that will come more 
nearly meeting the requirements of American farming than any other 
section of our country. The hope of a nation is in her youth. We must 
deal with them in the springtime of life, at a time when their hearts and 
minds are open, and when habits are being formed, and out of this type of 
childhood to develop the type of farmers and righteous citizenship of which 
a nation might well be proud. 

Friends, in addition to the club work and splendid enrollment reported 
from the State of Ohio, and their splendid list of achievements in agri- 
culture, you will be interested to know that for the past eight years the 
United States Department of Agriculture, in co-operation with the 
states, has been developing this club work from an enrollment of 162 



166 

for the first year, up to an enrollment of over 200,000 for the current year. 
This enrollment represents the work from 32 states, and does not include 
the enrollment from Ohio. The enrollment from the State of Ohio has 
been cared for, and- the club work conducted entirely from the office of 
Commissioner of Agriculture at Columbus, and we have had absolutely 
nothing to do with the Corn Club work of this state. This club enrollment 
in the 32 states has been receiving carefully prepared follow-up instruc- 
tions throughout the year. The instructions are written for the child mind, 
and directed in small installments to the club members once a month, when 
the special instruction is needed on a particular phase of the work. In 
addition to the instructions sent by mail, 20 of the states have state agents 
in charge of club work, who co-operate with the county superintendents 
of schools, county agricultural agents and other local leaders, in giving 
the membership the necessary follow-up work in the field, such as holding 
monthly meetings, both in and out of doors, visiting the club plats and club 
members, commending and instructing them as necessity demands. The 
two most important factors in these activities are careful follow-up work 
and final results, which has most of its value, perhaps, in the business 
estimate, viz., the net profit on investment. You business men, I am sure, 
agree with me that every club plat should be a definite demonstration, and 
illustration of good business farming, and we should have a deeper desire 
than merely instructing the boy, giving him a prize for achievement, free 
trips, and telling his story through the public press. It seems to me that 
the greatest good to both the boy and his agricultural environment, is 
when the entire agricultural community can adopt his method of corn 
farming safely, and at the same time pay for baby's shoes, meet the grocery 
bills, and lift the mortgage on the farm. 

It is indeed encouraging to see how many of the business men, grange 
organizations, commercial clubs, federated women's clubs, are not only 
giving of their money, but of their time and interest, in the promotion and 
conduct of this work in all the states. Some of the federated women's 
clubs have been very active in encouraging the Girls' Garden and Canning 
Club work, to the extent, not only of assisting in the enrollment, visiting 
the club girls at work, raising prizes for their encouragement, but in actually 
finding a market for their canned products, which are being sold all over 
the United States, under what is known as the 4-H Brand Club Label. 
The object of the label, of course, is to standardize the products of the club 
members, and guarantee to the public a sanitary, high quality, and full 
pack, and only club members who meet these requirements are entitled 
to its use. In addition to this, we have the 4-H Brand Seed Corn Label, 
the 4-H Brand Seed Potato Label, free use of which is offered to club 
members in these two lines of work who will meet the standardization 
requirements. These labels are available to the regular authorized state, 
district and county agents who represent the co-operative work of the 
Federal and State Extension work. 



167 

One local secretary of a woman's club, when invited by the state agent, 
gladly accepted the charge of a group of 18 girls in her community. She 
visited these girls on an average of twice each during the year, provided 
the premiums and through her local club secured a market for all of the 
club products. Mrs. W. H. Gilbertson, wife of the county agricultural 
agent in Sussex County, mothered the girls' club work in the county, did 
practically all the work in the interest of the girls, and one of her girls was 
a champion of the state, in this particular line of work (her name was 
Miss Lucy F. Bale) with a production record of nearly two ton of tomatoes, 
from a one-tenth acre plat. Her net profit on this piece of ground was 
$70.00. The most important part of her work, however, was the work 
with a little portable home canner. Through this little labor-saving device 
she was able to transform the cheap product of her garden into a staple 
product, capable of demanding on the markets of the world a uniform 
price throughout the entire year. 

Mrs. J. K. Turner, of Cleveland, Ohio, a well-to-do and a leading 
society lady of that city, directed a letter to the Department of Agriculture, 
and asked for suggestions as to what she could do, of a worth-while charac- 
ter, for the girls of Geauga County, Ohio, and wanted especially some 
information in regard to the girls' club work, which she had read about 
in some of the papers. She asked for and insisted upon the United States 
Department of Agriculture giving her definite help in getting this new line 
of work started in her county. She agreed to do all of the work of super- 
vision, organization, and encouragement, and furnish a liberal amount of 
prizes herself, if we would give the initial instructions in home canning to 
the girls, and to furnish to them the follow-up instructions throughout the 
year. This woman, without a dollar to reimburse her for several months 
of hard work, at considerable additional traveling expense, as well as the 
expense of banquets, picnics, receptions, prizes, etc., organized a club of 
126 girls. She not only organized them, but visited every girl several times 
during the year, invited them to her home, gave receptions to them, 
and paid the expenses of a free trip to Washington for the four champions. 
Mr. and Mrs. Turner and their two daughters, Nona and Norine, accom- 
panied the champions to^ Washington. Mrs. Turner and her daughters 
played the game with the girls, from A to Z, walked to the top of Washing- 
ton Monument with them, in order that they might understand more fully 
the distance from the base to the top, as represented by this Institution. 
I am narrating these facts in order to show you that there are a lot of people, 
who not only talk better agriculture, believe in it, but who are willing to 
render personal service, and spend considerable of their money in this 
regard. Mrs. Turner drew upon the bank to the extent of over $1,200 in 
cash output for the encouragement of this work. I like folks who are 
willing to give of their time and money freely to a worthy cause, and I 
want to say right here, that there are some of your people in Philadelphia 
who have spent a great deal of money during the past year for the good 



168 

of agriculture in the central East, and they are to be commended for this, 
and congratulated for their liberal support of constructive agriculture. 

When we stop to consider, as reported by Secretary Houston, that at 
the present time only 12 per cent of our land in the United States is yielding 
in maximum production, and only 40 per cent of all of our acres is being 
farmed at all, and that 60 per cent of all the land in this country is practi- 
cally idle, doing nothing for humanity, making no effort to reduce the high 
cost of living (a problem which concerns us all), and represents a waste 
in American rural life which cannot be easily computed in dollars and cents, 
and then when we stop to consider still farther that 50 per cent of all of 
the fruit and vegetables grown in this country from year to year is wasted 
for want of proper knowledge of grading, crating and marketing products, 
of a sure, efficient and labor-saving method of canning the surplus, and for 
the lack of appreciation and adequate means of refrigeration, I am sure 
that Dr. Pennington, from our own department, who has so ably discussed 
the merits of refrigeration, appreciates the fact that only a very small per 
cent at best of our people will ever have available the facilities for refrig- 
eration work, and that for the other class of people it is important that we 
offer them substitutes that will work, and will help them relieve the situa- 
tion for the present at least. I know of nothing better to offer at this time 
than this home canning work. Through the Girls' Garden and Canning 
Club work, the people are being taught to go into orchard, garden and field, 
and can the surplus. All kinds of fruit, all vegetables, greens, sweet corn, 
wmdfall apples, etc., can be successfully transformed into a canned product 
through this inexpensive home-made or commercial portable outfit, and 
can do the work as well as the commercial factory. There will be no dan- 
ger of white mould, and the hard things to can, like sweet corn, beans, peas, 
greens, and even meats, can be successfully put up by the boys and girls, 
ranging m age from 10 to 18 years, with definite success. These little 
commercial outfits are of four distinct types — the hot water bath, the water 
seal, the steam pressure, and the aluminum presser cookers. The com- 
mercial outfits cost all the way from $3.25 to $16.00, according to the 
size and particular type required. A child can put up 300 cans of tomatoes 
with one of these little outfits in a single day. An adult can put up 600 
cans in a single day. The average cost of producing a can of No. 3 
tomatoes, including all the items of expense, such as labor, rent of land, cost 
of cans, label, etc., is only 4 cents, while this same can with a similar quality 
of product will command a price of from 10 cents to 18 cents a can. 

Here is an interesting story of a can of tomatoes: While in Colorado 
last July, I visited a grocery and purchased of the merchant a No. 2 can 
of tomatoes, and paid 15 cents for it. I was so interested in this can of 
tomatoes that I reviewed carefully the label, made inquiry of the names 
and addresses of all of the companies, business concern, commission mer- 
chants, canners and growers, who had been identified with its evolution 
and migration from southern Maryland to this western state. When I 



169 

had trailed it all out, I found much to my surprise,. that this can of tomatoes 
had been the property in turn of all of the following concerns: the retail 
merchant, a jobber at Denver, a wholesale house in Chicago, a wholesale 
house in New York City, a commission agent, a canning factory in southern 
Maryland, whose label appeared on the can, another factory in Maryland 
who had actually put the product up in tin, and sold it without a label, 
and lastly the grower, who had sold the product at the rate of $8.50 a 
ton. Now, I am sure that you people, like myself, appreciate the fact that 
we need, and always will, a few middlemen. They are legitimate, and as 
important as the almighty dollar, in the business life, but when it comes to 
identify a whole bakers' dozen of middlemen with one little measly, 
insignificant No. 2 can of tomatoes, it is swinging the pendulum too far, 
and there is no argument in its defense. It is possible that two of these 
were legitimate, between producer and consumer. The rest of them ought 
to engage immediately in farming, or some other helpful line of service, 
and help this country of ours to get a square meal at a reasonable price. 
This story offers a definite argument for home canning in every community. 
If the average cost of a can is 4 cents or less, and the retail price is 15 cents, 
you have a middleman's difference of 11 cents. Then the child who can 
can 300 of these cans in a single day, can actually earn $33.00 cash per 
day, for every day spent in eliminating the waste of orchard, field and gar- 
den. An adult working at the rate of 600 cans per day can turn out a net 
profit of $66.00 cash, for each day spent in this constructive line of work. 
You ask, does it pay? No one doubts the fact that there are but very few 
average people who are making a better cash return showing per day 
than is offered through this line of work. 

When I say that children can do all of this canning, do it all success- 
fully, with the saving of time, labor and yet do it more efficiently and at 
less expense than has been true in connection with the old open kettle 
method, practiced in most of the homes throughout the country, some of 
you will necessarily doubt the honesty of my statement, and for this reason, 
I regret that I am not invited and have not been given time to actually 
demonstrate with the outfits in the canning of the various vegetables and 
fruits. My usual method of demonstrating the facts in this home canning 
work is to bring the equipment before the audience, invite a few of the 
little girls and boys in the audience to come forward and be instructed in 
a few moments' time, and then in turn to demonstrate how easy it is to 
perform the operations in the canning of strawberries, so they will keep 
flavor, color and texture; beans, peas and greens, so that they will not only 
keep color and be fresh for service, but will be a part of the balance ration 
for every day of the year, and eliminate the necessity of patent medicine, 
so common in the American home, and that these same children can learn 
to successfully can sweet corn on the cob, by simply using a little water and 
salt, and have fresh ears of corn for Christmas dinner, to which friends 
and loved ones may be invited. This kind of canning is usually done in a 



170 

gallon tin can, which will hold from five to one dozen ears of corn, per can, 
and I take it that the average Pennsylvania family is not too large to get 
along very well with one can to the meal. Most of you have come expect- 
ing to see all the lantern slides to illustrate this work. Owing to the 
lateness of the hour, I am forced to leave out a large number of them, and 
to leave much unsaid, in connection with those that I use. My system is 
full of this club work, and I always regret that time is too short to get it 
all out and thus reheve my mental tension before I leave the floor. My 
first experience in this line of work was some 14 years ago in the State of 
Iowa, where I had my initial experience, in seeing the benefits of club 
organization work with young people, and its influence upon the adults 
of the community, and snce that time, I have been doing more or less of 
this work every year, and the longer I work at it, the more of constructive 
value I see in this activity for a greater American agriculture. 

The boys and girls during the past year have been at work in at least 
one of the following activities: corn club work on the acre basis, potato 
club work on the | or | acre basis, garden and canning club work, vacation 
canning and marketing work, poultry clubs, good roads, alfalfa clul), sugar 
beet clubs, etc. And then some of them are engaged in what may be called 
a pig club. My idea of this line of work is that the best way to organize 
a pig club is to grow an acre of corn and raise a pig along with it. Other- 
wise, this boy's pig is liable to "sponge" on some of father's corn and feed 
rations. One very important thing in connection with this club work 
is to have these children understand that you are requiring of them a busi- 
ness undertaking, a job like that of the father's, or a man's job, and they 
win be proud of their work and will be glad to measure up to your require- 
ments. The nearer we can come to this manly or womanly ideal, the more 
nearly we have the enduring thing to offer the boys and girls. Some people 
confine their efforts in club activities which are mere school exercises and 
to the making of a big yield, without any regard to economic production, 
and this usually encourages excessive use of fertihzers, and in many 
instances -the yield has been made at a loss rather than on a net profit. 
While in county work in the State of Iowa, I had one experience of this 
character, that taught me a lesson that I shall not soon forget. The 
champion boy with a great big yield was severely criticised by all of his 
farmer neighbors, because he lost over $11.60 in his business transaction. 
One very prominent and influential farmer of that same neighborhood 
came to me and said, ''I, too, could make a great big yield of corn, if I did 
not have to pay for the bread and butter, clothing, schooling and general 
expenses of my family," and charged me with the thought that I had given 
the boys in the county the improper ideal, and had hindered rather than 
helped agriculture. From that day to this, I have been talking and working 
on the other basis, viz, the business unit, and with some emphasis on the 
net -profit on investment, and I find in this connection, that if I wish to 
secure the greatest benefit to the boy, culturely, ethically, or even spiritu- 



171 

ally, it can be better done through the latter method, than by the slip-shod 
method of yield only. The basis of award in the corn club work, in the 
30 states which have federated, is based upon the following points: yield, 
30 per cent; net profit on investment, 30 per cent; exhibit and quality of 
products, 20 per cent; crop report and story of how I made my crop, 20 per 
cent. This standard was not the one set by the United States Department 
of Agriculture, but unanimously accepted by the state leaders of all of 
these states, as the best workable basis, for the good of the boy, as well as 
for the good of agriculture. This will encourage the very thing that will 
be accepted and appreciated by both business men and farmers. 

While passing through an eastern town, not long since, a friend of 
mine hesitated on the street corner and said, "Do you see that group of 
boys over there? Do you notice that they are all using tobacco in some 
form? One little boy about twelve years old has a cigarette in his mouth, 
the others either pipes or cigars. I cannot understand why every boj 
in this town seems to have for his chief ambition the use of tobacco." I 
said, "This is easily understood. Those boys want to be men, and it is be- 
cause the men of the community practically all use tobacco in some form, 
and they recognize at once that one of the easiest things they can learn 
to do that looks like a man's job is to smoke a pipe or learn to use tobacco. 
Get your men to quit and make it unmanly, and the boys will all quit, 
without a word of mouth, or special effort on the part of social workers." 
Understand I am not endorsing the use of tobacco, but I am pointing 
a general principle that should be followed in the teaching of girls and 
boys industrial activity. I know what I am talking about in this regard, 
as I once was a boy. My father's personal friend was a banker, and when 
my father came out of the bank, arm in arm with this banker, both of 
them with cigars in their mouths, and both of them were men that I 
believed in and admired, the first germ of "Oh, to he a man," dawned 
upon me on that particular day and my first manly effort with a cigar 
was tried back of the barn. Sick — yes, just a few times, but what does 
an American boy care for tribulations of this kind if it makes him look 
like a man, in the end ! And for the encouragement of the boys present 
may I add that since I became a man I put away childish things. And 
since my twentieth yeax I have never used tobacco in any form. Boys, 
I want you to take a whole acre, and more if you can, for next year, 
and, like the best farmer in your community, prove that it is profitable 
to grow corn, select seed corn from the mother stock, string your seed 
corn and market it under the 4-H Brand Label. 

I have a notion to close right here and not show you any more slides. 
I have enough of dope on slides and charts to keep you here all night, 
but I want to leave you in such a way that I may have another invitation 
to your gracious community. Let me urge that you all together put your 
shoulders to the wheels of agriculture and home economic progress in 
the State of Pennsylvania, and encourage the boys and girls to enter 



172 

this work for next year. The most economical, as well as the surest and 
quickest way, to make of your state a great agricultural as well as a com- 
mercial state, is through the boys and girls rather than through the adults. 
These young people with a lifetime ahead of them, all of them in need of 
vocational guidance early in life, furnish for you and your money un- 
rivaled opportunities for great service. In addition to investment of 
money, put into this work some of your personal service. After all, this 
is our greatest contribution to any line of work. The Good Book says, 
"A little child shall lead them." And the truth of this was very ably 
illustrated by the child-Christ at the age of twelve, when He stood among 
the learned doctors Id the Temple, When He was questioned by His par- 
ents why He had lingered behind, His prompt reply was, "Wist ye not that 
I should be about my Father's business?" In this statemenc, He sounded 
the serious message for the boys' and girls' club work of today, and He 
Himself went about doing His Father's business while but a mere boy. 
In serving as an apprentice in His father's carpenter shop, carrying the 
water from distant well to his mother's kitchen, hoeing the row in the 
back yard garden, clearing the rubbish from the dooryard, running the 
many errands, playing with the neighbor children, and doing the one 
hundred and one other things common to child life. In and through these 
activities the Christ-child became the Christ-man, equally trained in 
head, heart, hands and health. A four-square training to meet the four- 
square needs of all time. 

[This lecture was illustrated by the use of lantern slides and electric 
chart. The conference then adjourned until 10 o'clock Saturday morning.] 



BANKERS' DAY 



Saturday Morning, December 6, 1913, 10 o'Clock. 



GENERAL TOPIC: "AGRICULTURAL CREDIT" 



Mrs. Smith : The first matter that I want to bring to your attention 
is a resolution put before the management of the conference, which I 
think we all feel interested in. 

There has been some trouble about the importation of potatoes into 
this country. A potato disease is raging in Europe and we are anxious to 
keep it out of this country. Mr. Calwell feels that for the Corn Exchange 
Bank and for this conference to go on record as opposed to raising the 
embargo it would express the sentiments of a part of the country on this 
question. It is a very important thing to have an embargo on the importa- 
tion of potatoes remain as it is. I will just read the resolution as it has 
been worded. It is open to change: "Resolved, That the Agricultural 
Conference and the Corn Exchange National Bank are opposed to the 
lifting of the embargo on the foreign potato importation now about 
to be discussed by the Department of Agriculture in Washington." 

Mr. Wescott, you are acquainted with produce lines. Can you tell 
us why there should be any question of raising the embargo? 

Mr. Wescott: I am sorry that our information does not relate 
to the scientific aspects of this question. Coming from a section, however, 
in which the production of potatoes is the chief industry, it would be ex- 
tremely disastrous if any other burden were committed to the farmer 
in the way that would interfere with the production of his crop. 

It seems a fair assumption that unless there were scientific probability 
of contagion through importation, the embargo would never have, in the 
first place, been put upon the importation. That being the case, it would 
seem unwise to take any chances that would result seriously, not only 
to producing sections, but to this country at large through the importation 
of any further potato disease. We are very heartily in sympathy with the 
purpose of this resolution. 

Mrs. Smith: Is there any one who feels opposed to that? I think 
that most all of us feel that it is a good thing to keep out. If there is any 
person who would like to say a word why the embargo should be lifted, 
we should hke to hear from him. 

A Delegate: Should not the resolution state why it should be 
kept on? 

(173) 



174 

Mrs. Smith: The reason is so well known, and as the question will 
be in the hands of the Secretary of Agriculture, it does not seem worth 
while to do that. 

A Delegate: As I understand it, the trouble is in potatoes coming 
from a foreign country where they have a disease ; that the spread of that 
disease would be very disastrous. 

Mrs. Smith: All those who are in favor of passing this resolution 
will please say aye. 

[The resolution was unanimously adopted.] 

Mrs. Smith: If you are willing, I propose that you make a motion 
that Mr. Calwell appoint a delegate from this conference to attend the 
conference before the Secretary of Agriculture next week. 

[A motion was here made that Mr. Calwell be appointed to attend 
the conference in Washington, which was duly seconded.] 

Mrs. Smith: It has been moved and seconded that Mr. Calwell 
be appointed to attend the conference, and, if he cannot attend it himself, 
that he shall appoint an alternate. 

[The motion was unanimously carried.] 

(At this point brief addresses were made by Messrs. Lord, Perry and 
Pearce, from the State of Maryland, outlining the splendid results achieved 
by the Boys' Corn Clubs in that section of the country. The young men 
gave a practical demonstration of agricultural work from a scientific stand- 
point, utilizing for this purpose a large exhibit of corn which they had 
brought to the conference. They explained how heredity cuts an important 
figure in successful corn-growing. Other points that had to do with scien- 
tific corn-growing were brought out by the youthful demonstrators, 
and received close attention.) 

Mrs. Smith: I now take pleasure in introducing to you Mr. J. Clyde 
Marquis, a delegate of the city of Philadelphia to the American Com- 
mission on European Agricultural Credits; and Associate Editor of The 
Country Gentleman. 



THE RELATION OF AGRICULTURAL CREDIT AND CO- 
OPERATION TO THE COST OF FOOD IN 
PHILADELPHIA. 



By J. Clyde Marquis, 

Delegate of the City of Philadelphia to the American Commission on European 
Agricultm-al Credits; Associate Editor of The Country Gentleman. 



The unrest among farmers has been gradually increasing since the 
Civil War, but it was not until the growing cost of food aroused the 
city consumer to the situation that any widespread notice was taken 
of the matter by public men — Congress, the legislatures and the pub- 
lic press. The agricultural press has been full of the discussion for thirty 
years and there is nothing new about it to those who have been studying 
agricultural economics closely. The trouble has been that until the 
present they have not been heard by the public. 

Pubhc agitation broke out during the Roosevelt administration 
and resulted in The Country Life Commission, which was the first pop- 
ular propaganda directing attention to our agricultural situation. Then 
David Lubin went a step further. Believing that the trouble at the bottom 
was a financial one he urged the Southern Commercial Congress to lead 
a delegation of state representatives abroad to see how Europe had met 
the financial problems in similar situations. Lubin must have credit 
for having secured the appointment of the official Commission, which 
is soon to report its findings to the President and to Congress. 

The city man asks, what has all this to do with his grocery bills? 
Let us analyze by stating a series of facts that are now generally accepted 
as facts : 

1. Food costs have increased. The proofs are well known to 
every one. 

2. The farmer has not gotten the increase in profits which the 
consumer has paid. Plenty of farmers are testifying to this 
point. 

3. The increased cost for services by distributing agencies in the 
city now increases the cost of food over the prices received 
by the producer from 50, 75, 100, and in some cases 200 per 
cent. For the city of Philadelphia the proof has been provided 
in the investigations of Dr. King, of the University of Penn- 
sylvania, under the direction of Director Cooke of the Bureau 
of Public Works. 

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176 

4. The cost of food can only be reduced in one of two ways: 

(1) reducing the cost of marketing. 

(2) reducing the cost of production per unit or increasing 
production, which amounts to the same thing. 

The cost of distribution must be reduced by 

1. Eliminating duplication and unnecessary service, speculation, 
etc. 

2. Direct selling from producer to consumer. 

To reduce production cost involves more intensive farming and more 
intelligent farming. 

Intensive farming requires more working capital — it is primarily 
a financial consideration at the outset because it requires 

1. More labor and the labor cost is 25 to 75 per cent of the 
cost of production. 

2. More fertility — commercial or natural manures. 

3. More equipment and higher grade management. 

These improvements hinge on making more capital readily avail- 
able to the farmer and of promoting educational enterprises which will 
show him how to improve his methods without too great cost. 

We can here see the relation of rural credits to co-operation and the 
food problem. 

To reduce the costs of distribution requires co-operation. 

1. Co-operation of consumer and producer to eliminate the mar- 
keting evils. 

2. To introduce direct selling. 

What Europe Can Teach Us. 
The recent investigation and previous studies show us 

1. That Europe has solved some but not all her rural problems. 

2. Her experience is suggestive but her methods are not wholly 
applicable to our conditions. 

European versus American Farm Production. — Europe views agri- 
culture from the standpoint of total output per acre and on this basis 
she greatly excels us. America has viewed agriculture from the stand- 
point of the labor of the individual and on this basis our farmers are 
more efficient. 

If the yield per acre of all crops were fixed as the standard of the 
world the average of the United States would be 108 and for Belgium 
221, but if we view it from the standpoint of production per person the 
figures for the United States are 1104 and Belgium only 508, which means 
that while intensified Belgium gets over twice what we do per acre the 
United States gets over twice as much production as Belgium per person, 



177 

which means from the standpoint of the producer the Belgimn farmer 
is much worse off than the American farmer and is by no means so efficient. 

European farmers are regarded as a class, and in many cases a class 
of limited rights and opportunities. The American farmer is a citizen 
with equal rights with the consumer and cannot be controlled or forced 
to adopt methods which will improve the condition of the consumer. 

European ideas are not new to us. We have successful co-operative 
creameries, farmers' elevators, breeders' associations, fruit growers' 
associations, rural credit associations, etc. 

In America these reforms will be brought about by three agencies: 

1. National laws which will give the farmers' assets standing in 
the financial market. 

2. A favorable attitude on the part of banking interests toward 
these assets. 

3. Co-operation with the consumer. 

National laws are now underway and proposed reforms by the Fed- 
eral Commission are before Congress. 

Bankers are aroused and the present meeting is a result of their 
interest. 

City and country co-operation is tjie keynote of this talk. 

Philadelphia's Food Situation. 

Few large American cities are fed from nearby lands. Philadelphia 
is particularly dependent upon food-stuffs coming from a distance. We 
must compete with other large cities, as New York, Boston, Baltimore 
and Washington for this food. To get it we must offer favorable markets 
and market conditions such as terminal facilities, storage, distributing 
agencies, etc. This phase of the question is fully realized by public 
officials and is receiving constant attention. 

The lands adjacent to Philadelphia are in many respects not pro- 
ducing 50 per cent of their possibilities and in many cases nothing at 
all. The city is surrounded by a vast unused area only partially worked. 

Suburban values make agriculture unprofitable in most sections 
within a radius of twenty-five miles and tends to check direct selling 
by personal contact with the consumer and producer in public markets. 
Many cities have large food producing sections nearby, notably Paris. 

Philadelphia is dependent upon 

1. Encouragement of local production. 

2. Direct selling, via parcel post, express, trolley, etc. 
To encourage local production there is needed 

1. The improvement of surrounding farms. 

2. The encouragement of direct selling, which will give the 
nearby producer the advantage and profit which his location 
should justify. 



178 

Direct selling, aside from the public market, is an innovation, un- 
tested, with many problems. 

The farmer wants to know: 

1. What the consumer wants. 

2. When and how to ship it. 

3. Who to ship to — -dealers or private customers. 

4. Market supplies and storage facilities. 

5. Price standards. 

The consumer wants to know: 

1. What to buy. 

2. When and where to buy. 

3. His obligations in direct selling. 

4. Prices, market surplus and production conditions. 

There is no agency at present that can give the consumer this informa- 
tion. Dr. King and Mr. Kates suggested day before yesterday that the 
only possible solution of that problem was to have a municipal market 
bureau that would give out this information. It is not an expensive 
proposition. Under the present situation, the first step must come from 
the city. Then there should be co-operation of the city with the country. 
The farmer is on the defensive in this matter, because he can sell out his 
place. He is doing it in a great many cases. Why is it? Because of this 
unrest. They want to take a chance of getting increased values. The pub- 
lic is interested in the eastern farms, and getting close to market. We are 
building up a generation of younger farmers, who will take advantage of 
a place near a large city. We must have the support of the city in better- 
ing these conditions, which will give the farmers assets and credit, the same 
as business men. Then we must have educational support, and direct 
co-operation of the city with the country, if we are to develop food pro- 
duction in this and in other cities. 

Mrs. Smith: It now gives me pleasure to introduce to you Dr. J. 
Russell Smith, of the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, who 
will address us on "The Efficiency Movement and the Farm Problem." 



THE EFFICIENCY MOVEMENT AND THE FARM PROBLEM. 



By J. Russell Smith, 

Professor of Industry, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: Did any of you ever see a Dane? 
Well, I have, and I want to tell you something about him, and perhaps 
you will agree with me in it. It is this: A Dane is no smarter than the 
people of Pennsylvania. Now I have to admit right away that I cannot 
prove that by looking at our agriculture and at his, for the agriculture of 
the Dane is far and away ahead of ours. Still, I believe we are as smart 
as he is, but he has got ahead of us agriculturally in that he has apphed 
the efficiency movement to crop production and selling. Dr. Carver told 
us yesterday morning how wonderfully they had succeeded in putting up 
uniform standardized packages of farm products that the world can trust 
and gladly pays for. 

We hear a great deal these days about the efficiency movement, 
but it thus far has come almost entirely from manufacturers and the fac- 
tory. It has four great fields, however, in which it must be applied. One 
is the factory, the second is the farm, the third is purchasing and selling, 
and the fourth may be called community activity. 

What is this efficiency movement? Efficiency shows how. There is 
a right way and a wrong way, often a great many wrong ways, to do 
practically everything. The efficiency expert studies, and out of the many 
ways selects the best way. That is all. Mr. Frederick W. Taylor, of this 
city, well and widely known as one of the fathers of the new efficiency 
movement, tells us the story of the cleaning of an engine boiler. He 
found it took a lot of time as ordinarily done. He examined into the proc- 
esses and found that men were lying on their backs, in cramped and 
awkward positions, with their tools disarranged and out of reach, getting 
dirt in their eyes, and generally making a hand-to-hand struggle with a 
bruising job. After carefully figuring out the way it should be done, he 
printed long and elaborate instructions for the workmen to follow. He 
made mattresses to fie on, so that they could put their energies into work 
rather than misery. The tools were arranged in orderly kits and the opera- 
tions were systematized and definitely arranged in series, with the result 
that a saving of over two-thirds of the time resulted. This is typical of 
thousands of cases that might be mentioned. Factory production is rapidly 
being organized by the efficiency movement, which not only deals with the 
best way to do particular jobs, but copes with the much greater problem 
of organizing the various units into a harmonious whole. 

(179) 



180 

There is an equally great field for the efficiency expert on the farm. 
Thus far most of the scientific promotion of agriculture has been devoted 
to teaching farmers how to perform unit operations better. They have 
been told how to select seed corn, how it should be cultivated, how to 
fatten a pig, how to spray an apple tree; but a farm is a very complexly 
organized group of activities, and the problem of their interrelation is 
well illustrated by the case of Dr. Spillman's farm. Dr. Spillman, Chief 
of the Bureau of Farm Management in the Department of Agriculture, at 
Washington, took an old run-down farm in Missouri, got some very efficient 
units of operation, raised the corn yield from 20 to 80 bushels an acre, but 
found he was not making much money. Examination showed he had 
been so impressed with the good unit of corn production that he had little 
else, and therefore had a great pile of work to be done at the time of the 
spring plowing and corn cultivation and but little the rest of the year, 
with the result that the ten work horses ate up most of the profits of the 
farm. By rearranging his crop system so he had constant work through- 
out most of the year, the number of horses was reduced from ten to four, 
and, while the output was not increased, the profits were increased -several 
fold. 

There is a right way and a wrong way to do everything. The old 
way used to be, "get a good man and turn him loose. He'll come out 
all right." This dependence on genius is giving way before our increasing 
faith in the results of scientific work that arises from the careful studying 
out of the best way and then following it. 

Just here I want to emphasize the fact in this agricultural conference 
that the application of the efficiency movement to the farm is more dif- 
ficult than the factory, for the reason that the farm is often a more complex 
thing than the factory, using a greater variety of raw materials, turning out 
a greater variety of products, and using more sciences. Furthermore, 
this complex and scientific task must be carried on with a small staff, and 
subject to the restrictive operations of tne uncontrollable weather. 

But, after the efficiency movement is applied to the farm, what's 
going to become of the crops? What good does it do us to produce better 
potatoes if they rot in the ground, or increase their costs three-fold in getting 
to market? Our whole system is full of just such unadjusted production 
units. The student of industrial history, for example, tells us that in 
Revolutionary times the best hand-spinner could make two threads at a 
time, whereas now power-driven machines enable one spinner alone to make 
12,000 threads at a time, a six-thousand-fold increase over the Revolution- 
ary spinner, but does anyone claim that clothing is six thousand times as 
abundant? This improvement, while rather extreme, is suggestive of 
hundreds that have occurred in all forms of manufacture, and agriculture 
has not been neglected. A statistician for the Industrial Commission 
announces that in 1836 the production of a bushel of wheat required 183 
minutes of human labor, while it required in 1896 but ten minutes, a ratio 



181 

of 18 to 1, but no one claims that bread is eighteen times as abundant. 
The truth of the story is that we have made mechanical improvements 
faster than we have learned how to use them. We have the units, but we 
have not correlated them, and like Dr. Spillman's farm, they are in need 
of readjustment. I have full faith that in the near future we will have a 
great increase of the efficiency movement which will enable us to better 
utilize so many of our new units. We have all of the machinery for a 
greatly cheapened factory production, a greatly cheapened farm production, 
and a greatly cheapened carrying of the goods between factory and home 
and farm and home. It is merely a task of organization and efficiency. 

Transport and marketing afford us our present greatest and most 
monumental waste. We boast of the great speed of modern transportation, 
but one of its chief results to date has been to get consumers and producers 
so far apart that much or most of the crop is wasted. We have men telling 
us with good grounds that the farmer gets but 35 cents of the consumer's 
dollar and the goods the consumer gets for his dollar are somewhat deteri- 
orated in transit. Here is a great work for the efficiency expert. We have 
railways and trolley freight, motor trucks and parcels post, and now to 
utilize all these things we must, like the Dane, standardize production 
and make marketing so honest that we can buy a package without looking 
at it. We all know what is inside of a package of Uneeda Biscuit, but 
most of us are afraid to trust an egg or a barrel of apples until we break 
it open, after which we take two looks and a smell. A Philadelphian now 
needs to be able to buy a package of Chester County Farmers' Association 
eggs and be willing to eat them with his eyes shut. We should buy Bucks 
County Association sausage and scrapple with equal confidence. We 
should be able to get Jersey beans in any of our houses before they have been 
picked twenty-four hours, and be perfectly sure of that fact. We should 
be able to take a package of oranges and apples from anywhere and know 
that the names on the outside of them were absolutely correct. Further- 
more, we should be able to do many of these things at wholesale and cut 
out that wicked cost of the myriads of wasteful grocers' wagons that are 
fooling around the streets with quarter-pecks and half-dozens of things. 
Two ladies of my town, for one of whom I have the pleasure of paying 
bills, recently took three hours in the city, and spent $62.00 each for 
groceries. In one hour and a half they were transferred from freight car 
to the family storerooms. The whole operation actually took less time 
than would have been consumed by the ordering of the same amount 
of goods piecemeal by telephone, and the total net savings for each woman 
were over $10.00. We need to put in our cellars and pantries bushels of 
potatoes and know whether they are mealy or soggy, sacks of peanuts, 
sacks of pecans, sacks of walnuts, boxes of canned goods, and dried fruit, 
cases of groceries, etc. All these things should of course go straight from 
the farmers' and manufacturers' associations of producers to the city and 
(jountry association of consumers. There is no reason at all why the 



182 

housekeepers' league or even a labor union should not take full carloads of 
apples or potatoes or cabbages or beans arranged in standard packages, 
unload them at the nearest siding and have them delivered direct to its 
members within three or five hours. 

It is evident, of course, that such direct dealings of producers with 
consumers would give better goods and better prices, and thus very materi- 
ally reduce the cost of living. Naturally it can only come about as the 
result of organization, organization for marketing, transportation, and dis- 
tribution. But why should not one of our greatest activities be organized 
rather than chaotic? What excuse has chaos to continue? It is chaos that 
helps make the cost of living high. The managers of factories have dis- 
covered that they must study and plan to use their machines and tools. The 
farmer is discovering the same thing in his new movement for improved 
farm management. Now the communities that are wailing about the cost 
of living must discover that there is such a thing as community efficiency 
and we have not got it yet. The tools which the community must use to 
make itself efficient are all the institutions and groups of people among 
us — the banks and bankers, currency, railroads, trolley lines, postal service, 
state experiment stations, the school, the college, commission men, the 
store, co-operative purchasing associations, co-operative selling associations. 
All these industrial factors which have been working along independently 
in a way that is about as orderly as a mob, must come to work 
together in a new way, which has the correlation of the good baseball play 
or the good football play. We must have organized activity and it will 
be quite as valuable as the work of the man who made two blades of grass 
grow where one grew before, because it will save us from wasting that second 
blade of grass, which we are now wasting most riotously and uselessly. 

Study, reorganization and the elimination of waste motion and 
wasted time have marked the efficiency movement in manufacture. They 
must come to the elements of farm activity and to the elements of 
community activity. 

Whose business is it to work out community efficiency? There's 
the rub. As long as it stays everybody's business, it is liable to remain 
nobody's business, and the groans about the cost of living will continue. 
As a matter of fact, it must become the business of the intelligent end 
of every community. I regard this conference being held under the 
auspices of a bank and various public bodies as exceedingly auspicious, for 
it will serve to call the attention of the people who know and have power 
to the fact that this desirable thing, like practically every other desirable 
thing, can only come as a result of, and live by the support of intelligent 
public opinion. This intelligence can make itself felt through the action 
of the national government, the state governments, county governments, 
and numerous groups and associations of private individuals working 
together to promote efficiency in the service of their members and the 
community. 



183 

The wasters must step aside and the industrial organizer must enter 
a new field. His first pieces of handiwork promise to be groups of people 
buying, selling, dealing, directly with each other and rendering services 
that individuals have heretofore been unable to achieve. 

Many desired reforms demand legislation which can only come as 
the result of years of agitation and perhaps the making over of the race. 
The application of the efficiency movement merely demands sensible work 
under existing law with human beings that are now here, 

[The conference then adjourned until 2 p. m.] 



Saturday, December 6, 1913, 2 p. m. 
Ballroom, Bellevue-Stratford Hotel. 



ADDRESS. 



By Charles S. Calwell, 

President, Corn Exchange National Bank, Philadelphia. 



We are here to consider a new banking system. Not merely a system 
of getting deposits and making loans, but a banking system of helpfulness. 
This movement is not new. Some bankers in the West have been very 
active along these lines, but here in the East, until lately, we have been 
overlooking the farmer, notwithstanding Pennsylvania has the largest 
rural population of any state and that there is no better farming land 
than right here in our four states. 

We are in this work because we expect it is going to pay us. It is 
going to pay by increasing the prosperity of this section, but especially 
it will pay by helping to remove what little prejudice there may exist against 
banks. It does exist and it will exist as long as we sit in our back rooms 
and only study credits and think of schemes for increasing deposits. We 
have long thought that a banker's duty was to hear everything and say 
nothing. But we have carried it too far. We have been straddling every 
question. If a Democrat comes in we try to think of some Democrat we 
once supported. If our customer is a Republican, we change the subject 
to the tariff, and to get a banker's name on a reform list requires action 
by the board. I don't believe in mixing in politics, but I believe in 
taking a decided stand on the questions of the day, especially those 
questions that affect the general prosperity. Banking business will have 
to be conducted in the future on broader lines. By helping others we 
help ourselves, and the sooner we learn this the better for all. Now, a 
mild and inoffensive way of showing the public that we are not altogether 
selfish is to help along this movement for the bettering of agricultural 
conditions. Just as I think that it will be but a short time before large 
city banks have on their staff an engineer or efficiency expert for construc- 
tive criticism of the plants and methods of their customers, so I think the 
country banks have just the same opportunity for guidance of their custo- 
mers and their problems. 

Mr. Calwell: I take pleasure in introducing Mr. Harris from 
Champaign, Illinois, who is chairman of the Agricultural Commissiou, 

(184) 



185 

of the American Bankers' Association, and is measuring up to this great 
proposition. 

W. Irving Walker: Before Mr. Harris takes the floor, I would 
like to offer the following resolution: "A vote of appreciation is hereby 
extended to the Corn Exchange Bank of Philadelphia for the inception 
and assembling at the Commercial Exchange, the exhibit of corn of an 
exceptionally high grade from the states of Pennsylvania, Maryland, 
Delaware and New Jersey, believing that by such exhibit there has been 
an awakening of a deeper interest for a greater and better corn production. " 

The resolution was seconded and unanimously adopted. 



ADDRESS. 



By B. F. Harris, 

Chairman of the Agricultural Commission of the American Bankers' Association, 

Champaign, 111. 



A little less than two years ago it was my privilege to address the 
Pennsylvania Bankers at Bedford Springs, and it is, indeed, a pleasure 
to be with you again. While there are four states represented at this 
conference, I presume Pennsylvania predominates. 

There has been comparatively httle trouble in getting the coimtrj- 
bankers to understand the importance of this movement for a better 
agriculture and rural life, because the country banker is in direct and 
almost constant touch and contact with the farmers and has become 
interested in the work. 

The city banker has shown some sympathy, not expressed in any 
concrete way, however, until Mr. Calwell and the Com Exchange 
National Bank called this conference. 

Some time after I addressed the 1912 Pennsylvania Bankers' Con- 
vention on the subject of "The Banker and His Relation to the Public 
Welfare," I was pleased to see the Logan Trust Company, of this city, 
exhibit its interest by printing a large edition of that address and spread- 
ing it broadcast, with the hope that it might prove of some practical 
benefit. 

Too much cannot be said of President Calwell's effort, because the 
Corn Exchange National Bank, over which he presides, is the first bank 
in any large reserve city which has shown any active interest in this 
movement. 

Speaking on behalf of the Agricultural Commission of the American 
Bankers' Association and the Conference of the Agricultural Committees 
of the thirty-seven Bankers' State xlssociations, I want to express their 
high appreciation of the impetus this conference gives this movement. 

At the conference yesterday, a representative of the Girard Trust 
Company of Philadelphia demonstrated that his company was trying 
to be a real trustee in spirit and in fact, and more especially as to its 
agricultural trusteeship. Trv-ing to properly develop their farm properties, 
trying in their capacity as trustee to build up the farms and rural condi- 
tions as well. It is wonderfully encouraging to see such wholesome and 
helpful work, and I am glad that Mr. Calwell was able to bring out that 
feature of trust company service in this program. 

(186) 



187 

The newspapers, of course, are most essential agencies in dissemi- 
nating information as to the work in which we are engaged, and it is a 
pleasure to refer to them. 

This morning I came into Philadelphia; I picked up a North Ameri- 
can and found a two-column editorial devoted to and commending our 
work and our new magazine — The Banker-Farmer. The newspapers 
have given space to this conference, not as much as they should have 
given, but I believe the newspapers were taken unawares, as many of 
the rest of us were, for it is an unheard-of thing to have a bank, and a big 
city bank at that, attempt such a conference as that now closing. This 
conference is of great importance, as you must realize. I have been here 
three days and I don't know of any meeting, farm, conference or institute, 
I have attended where the program has been so wide and varied, as well 
arranged as this, with relation to the question of agriculture and rural 
life in its varied phases. 

After the 1912 meeting of the Pennsylvania Bankers' Association, 
when its first Committee on Agriculture was appointed, they showed 
great interest in your State Agricultural College, and tried, as I under- 
stand it, to get a much larger appropriation than the $10,000 a year ap- 
propriated for farm demonstration, and to which Mr. Calwell has referred. 
As I came down here the other day, I stopped off at State College to see 
what they were doing, and Dean Watts asked me to speak to the boys 
in the agricultural college. I found in talking with him that the college 
in 1910-11 had 437 young men in attendance. In 1912-13, two years 
later, this number had grown to 2,000. Think of that growth and the 
promise it offers. A five-fold increase in the last two years. It is indica- 
tive of what the bankers and business men may help to accomplish, and 
the Pennsylvania Bankers' Association has a great field before it. 

Thirty-six Bankers' State Associations now have committees on 
agriculture and education. These committees are meeting in annual 
conference, having met recently in Kansas City, your State Association 
being represented by Mr. Stubbs , and Mr. James, whose untimely death 
we all mourn, was chairman of your Committee on Agriculture, one of 
the best known men in the American Bankers' Association. He was 
substantially the author of the new platform and constitution of the 
American Bankers' Association. 

As an outgrowth of this conference of the various state bankers' 
associations, you have The Banker-Farmer monthly, some few copies of 
which have been distributed about the room. 

The Agricultural Commission of the American Bankers' Association 
is publishing The Banker-Farmer to review the activities of the banker, 
and his State Association and Committees, looking toward a better agri- 
culture and rural life, not simply as a matter of information, but with the 
idea that bankers will read it with the thought in mind, "In what way 
may I assist and co-operate in this work of agricultural and rural life 



188 

development, and bring into effect in my state and my community the 
same sort of work." 

Furthermore, the conference has developed the fact that one of the 
most important things a state can possibly do is to make a soil survey of 
the land and promulgate information as to its agricultural possibilities 
and requirements, showing what sections of the state are fitted for agri- 
culture and what kind of agriculture, and what sections of the state are 
not so fitted. Thereby the present and prospective citizens of the state 
may be informed, intelligently directed, and may not be exploited by 
the unscrupulous real estate agent or otherwise misled through representa- 
tions that cannot be fulfilled. 

Then as to fertilization. Pennsylvania spends eight or nine millions 
of dollars in fertilizers annually, and it is the duty of the state, through 
proper agencies, to inform the people as to proper methods of fertilization, 
what method they should use and what they should not use. Farmers 
in many instances pay out large sums of money for types of fertilizer they 
do not need or could grow or buy cheaper in other forms. In other words, 
we want a system of fertilization calculated to serve the exact needs of a 
particular soil, at the least cost to the farmer, and without injury to his 
land. 

Then, one of the next most important things is the farm demonstrator. 
The agricultural colleges have developed a remarkable store of informa- 
tion which does not reach the farmer, for the colleges are not in close 
touch with the farmer. There has not, in the past, been money or method 
of getting to the farmer on the farm. Thus the county agent or farm 
demonstrator has evolved with the idea that ultimately we will have 
such a man in every county of every state in this union who will go among 
the farmers and show them, right on their farms, the newer methods of 
agriculture and soil conservation. 

You have several notable examples of this, notably in County Agent 
Ross, of Bedford County, who is doing a great work in his section, and 
Dr. Hurd, of Massachusetts, will tell us in a few moments details of this 
work in various sections of the country. 

And the real achievement uppermost in our minds is improvement 
of the country schools. We feel that if not the largest measure, then a 
much larger measure of aid should be given to the country boys and girls, 
to the elementary schools; to the largest number of boys and girls who 
are in school for a short time. 

We find in many states, in my own for example, 300,000 boys and 
girls attend the country schools, 90 per cent of them there receiving all 
the education they ever get, and many of these schools are poor enough 
at best. We frequently penalize the country children with schools a self- 
respecting town would not tolerate. 

In Boston we noticed the inscription on the facade of that great 
public library, "The Commoiiwealth requires t-he education of all the people 



189 

as the safeguard of order and liberty." Yet we believe that the emphasis 
should be laid on efficiency and service for "order and liberty" grow out 
of efficiency and service. 

It seems to me that on the three things: health, trained efficiency 
and the desire to be of service, hang all the laws of popular education and 
its regenerative influence on free government. 

Then, another one of our planks is that of good roads. We have 
talked to the farmer about poor roads, but we have not laid stress on the 
social side ; it has been more the matter of getting in and out to market 
more readily and all that sort of thing. Good roads are one of the greatest 
necessities of the country today, and they lead in more good directions 
than we can contemplate. You of Pennsylvania, and also of New Jersey, 
Delaware and Maryland, are doing each year more than ever along this 
important line of public improvement, but much more must be done. 

We have few good roads in Illinois, and you are undoubtedly ahead 
of us in that respect. 

Rural credits is another phase of the farm situation which the banker 
is interested in improving, because we are especially concerned in proper 
and economic and remunerative results on the farm. If the new currency 
bill is what it ought to be, it is going to make it possible to take care of 
the short-time credit needs of the farmer. 

The other feature that the currency bill can't take up is the matter 
of mortgage credit. It seems to me that may be best handled through 
state legislation, because the requirements of the forty-eight states differ 
radically and then, too, the various states know their own needs better 
than the Federal Government knows them. 

Marketing and distribution is one of the greatest problems, for mark- 
keting is just as necessary to production as is harvest. 

The country town must be maintained and made one of the rural 
centers, for farming is a life as well as an industry, and must be built up 
upon the social as well as the productive side. 

This gives you a brief outline of some of the planks in The Banker- 
Farmer platform, some of those with which we are most concerned. 
You know the story of the man who walked up to the bank counter and 
wanted to make a loan. After various propositions had been offered by 
the would-be borrower, the banker made his answer short by saying, 
"I can't make the loan; circumstances over which I have no control 
prevent my making the loan." "But," said the would-be borrower, 
"what are those circumstances?" and the banker replied, "Your circum- 
stances." [Applause.] That happens very frequently, and we are apt 
to look at the agricultural proposition in the light that "We are not 
concerned with the farmers' circumstances." 

We must, however, be concerned with his circumstances, and those 
of every man, woman and child in this country, because we are beginning 
to remember that the welfare and life of this nation depend on the 



190 

well-being and prosperity of the average man, woman and child in 
the nation. 

Mr. Calwell's splendid opening remarks bore on many of these 
points which we must lay to heart. I want you to have in mind, in con- 
nection with what I am saying on this subject, that I was born and bred 
both a farmer and a banker, in Illinois, and I have been exposed to both 
propositions from my earliest days. Earlier, I didn't appreciate the 
agricultural side as I have later. Now a large part of my sympathy 
is on the agricultural side. I am still in banking and farming, but above 
all things I try to bear in mind that man has two great concerns in life, 
one the conquest of his environment, the other is to express and interpret 
what life means to him. Most of the bankers have gotten well along 
in the conquest of their environment, and they, more than many others, 
have the opportunity and leisure and the wherewithal, and are rapidly 
and happily beginning, through public welfare work, to express "what 
life means to them." 

In other words, the basis of banking, like the basis of the rest of 
life, is moral, not financial. We are all beguming to real-ize we must 
be progressive in order to be conservative. It has been my privilege to 
attend many state bankers' conventions, and this spirit undoubtedly 
prevails and grows amazingly. 

The greatest feature of this movement is response, and the prompt 
response that has come to the call for help toward a better agriculture and 
rural life. 

In the fall of 1914 the Agricultural Committees of the State Associa- 
tions are to be the guests of the Chicago Clearing House, and you will 
see bankers there from all sections of the country, discussing the various 
subjects I have referred to in such a way as to inspire any man and the 
believers in citizenship. 

The banker is misunderstood in a great many instances, yet if time 
is taken to properly consider his attitude he ■^'ill usually be found to 
measure up to all that is for the public welfare. 

The bankers in fine spirit are recognizing that the business of banking 
is not only the business of the banker but is also the public business, 
and they demonstrated that at the recent currency conference in Chicago. 

The bankers for twenty-five years have wanted a new currencj' sys- 
tem, and have called for it, and when they called for it the people felt 
it was something the rest of the community didn't want. 

As a rule, the bankers fear political control as much as the politicians 
pretend to fear the bankers in the matter of control of the banking system 
of the country. 

The press of the country and the public of this country should feel, 
as they really know in their hearts if each indi^ddual answers this question 
honestly, that the banker in his ovm community is one of the most trusted 
of men, for the banker knows and feels he must have that conmiunity's 



191 

interest at heart and that the prosperity of the community is Hkewise 
that of the banker. So it has been an inspiration to me to see the 
response which has come through the bankers in behalf of this movement. 

The Saturday Evening Post some weeks since, referring to "The 
Banker-Farmer Partnership," said, "Why stop at the farmers?" The 
Banker-Farmer tried to answer that. I do not beHeve the bankers of 
this country intend to stop there. Of course, we know in any movement 
in this country, whether it be in public or private life, service rendered 
is simply casting bread upon the waters. There is no doubt when results 
are brought to pass that Mr. Calwell's efforts to do service in this com- 
munity will be realized, and you will see the effect of it. [Applause.] 
In trying to bring out the best there is in the soil and rural life, the banker 
is bringing out the best in himself. We want to make The Banker-Farmer 
the Banker-Everybody. 

In Illinois we have the reputation of being the greatest agricultural 
state in the union. I am not going to advertise Illinois, because that is not 
so. Illinois is not the greatest in actual results, but I have some figures 
on Pennsylvania Agricultural Statistics which I would like to read to you. 

In trying to solve your farming problems, you may find some light in 
these census figures. While the figures I give you are rather disparaging 
to Pennsylvania, yet perhaps the best way to get Pennsylvania to take 
her proper place in the agricultural ranks of the North Central States is 
to read the comparative figures. 

There are, of course, local conditions that affect or in part explain 
some of these figures, but in general they are as accurate as such broadly 
gathered statistics may be, and they are at least sufficiently correct to 
unmistakably show that you are due for a revival. 

Of the nine North Atlantic States (Connecticut, Maine, Massachu- 
setts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode 
Island and Vermont) Pennsylvania has the largest nmnber of farms 
(219,295); has as much or more improved farm land than any of these 
states except New York, while four states average larger and four smaller 
acreage per farm. 

While Massachusetts with her average farm of 77.9 acres, 31.5 acres 
(40 per cent) of which is improved; Pennsylvania's farms average 84.8 
acres with 57.8 (60 per cent) improved acres. 

The value of the land in the average farm in Massachusetts and 
Pennsylvania is almost the same — $2859 and $2875 respectively, though 
Massachusetts' improvements are valued at $2401 as against $1873 in 
Pennsylvania. 

Massachusetts, however, leads all these states in the value of all 
crops and livestock products per improved acre with $51.42; while Penn- 
sylvania brings up the rear with $22.25 per improved acre. 

On improved acre basis, Pennsylvania's crops average $14.09; live-stock 
$9.09; while Massachusetts' correspondmg figures are $27.44 and $23.98. 



192 

On the basis of the entire farm, Pennsylvania farms average 4.3 
cows each while Vermont averages 8.1, New York 7. 

In these nine states Pennsylvania again brings up the rear in the 
average farm value of dairy products at $192.22, while Massachusetts' 
farms average $411.40, Rhode Island $390.39, New York $360.89. 

Pennsylvania barely leads with an average of 4.5 hogs per farm, 
while, for example, Iowa has 34.8, Florida, 16.2. 

All the nine states, except Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, 
also lead Pennsylvania in egg and poultry production per farm, for Penn- 
sylvania averages $117.56, Massachusetts $251.43 and Delaware $166.81. 

In the total value of crops per farm, Pennsylvania with $760.35 
is below all except Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, and really 
below them on basis of cultivated acres. 

More livestock and dairying would help Pennsylvania farm incomes 
and soil. 

We are just beginning to practice in Illinois what Abraham Lincoln 
suggested fifty years ago. Abraham Lincoln put it this way: "Unques- 
tionably it requires more labor to produce fifty bushels of wheat from 
one acre than ten bushels of wheat from one acre; but does it require 
more labor to produce fifty bushels from one acre than from five?" In 
other words, we want to raise our crops on fewer acres and devote the 
balance to livestock, because in so doing we are helping to maintain 
the farm by feeding the livestock and should thereby get two profits for 
our crops. 

The movement of the banker in behalf of agriculture is not a move- 
ment simply for productivity, but also to up-build the farm — to make life 
on the farm worth living, and unless we make that life and all its condi- 
tions what it should be, we won't win on the productive side. We must 
make the farm more likable. There are two kinds of rural decay. We 
have it in various sections of the country. One is the kind that takes 
place under the ground that enriches the soil, and the other takes place 
on top of the land and impoverishes the people. The latter is the thing 
the bankers' committees are fighting against. We feel that the care 
of the soil and the care of its caretakers is the most important problem 
we face. 

You have been very patient, and I wish to thank you and congratu- 
late Mr. Calwell again on this auspicious event. 

Mr. Calwell: We are in one of the richest agricultural sections 
of the United States, I understand. The last census gives Lancaster 
County as the richest county in the United States. In money value of 
farms, Chester County was No. 3, and Bucks County was No. 5. Here 
we are, right around us. [Applause.] 

When you go over to Jersey, and down to Delaware and Maryland, 
all I know is the "Eastern Shore" [applause]; the ground is the best you 



193 

can get for agricultural purposes anywhere in the United States. And 
it is not being developed. A banker told me (he is not here today) that 
right in this city he knew of ground along the creek or river that was 
twenty feet deep in red soil and nobody using it- He said you could 
get that ground for $5.00 to $10.00 per acre, and the richest kind of soil. 
Why doesn't New Jersey establish an experimental station on that ground? 
I think it would tone up some of these sections there in South Jersey. 

We have found in what we have done in this corn conference that 
it is hard to get in touch with the farmer. He doesn't come to these 
meetings, only half of them, and he doesn't want to bother with reading 
about economics of the farm, so the best way we have heard of here as 
to reaching him is by direct work. The ablest man I know of, one of 
the very best in the country, is a man whom we have with us here today, 
Dr. William D. Hurd, of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, Am- 
herst, Massachusetts. He has gone into this extension work right out on 
the farms and taught the people how to improve their farms and to en- 
courage them in this connection. 

Senator Gore was in attendance at this conference a few days ago. 
He said he had just introduced a bill in Congress which would authorize the 
establishing of a farm bureau in every county throughout the State of 
Pennsylvania. That bill is going to come before Congress. It has already 
been presented, and I think Pennsylvania ought to be very proud, and the 
Pennsylvania bankers, and the New Jersey bankers, the Delaware bankers 
and Maryland bankers should take some interest in the bill, because that is 
the best way of helping agriculture, by getting some one who can go 
out on the farm and teach the farmer right on his own ground what he 
ought to do. 

I take great pleasure in introducing Dr. William D. Hurd, who will 
talk to us on extension work. 



THE STATE AND THE FARMER: TEACHING AGRICULTURE 
TO THE PEOPLE OF A STATE. 



Dr. William D. Hurd, 

Director of the Extension Service, Massachusetts Agricultural College, 
Amherst, Mass. 



I have come to speak with some hesitation. I don't want anyone to 
get the idea here that I have come to flaunt the work we are doing in 
Massachusetts, because I realize in the four states that are represented 
here today you have agricultural colleges which I presume are doing 
work of a similar character. 

I thought you folks would look on agriculture in our state as a joke, 
but after Mr. Harris's figures which he gave us I think I need not make 
any further reference to his remarks on agriculture on that stormy and 
rock-bound coast. 

When the Honorable Justin S. Morrill introduced into Congress, 
and Mr. Lincoln in 1862 signed the bill bearing the former's name: 
''giving land to support and maintain in each state at least one 
college, where the leading object should be, without excluding the classics 
and other scientific branches, ... to teach such branches of learning 
as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts ... in order to 
promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the 
several pursuits and professions of life" there was no doubt in the minds 
of these men that these colleges should make themselves useful to all the 
people who supported them as well as to the few hundred students fortu- 
nate enough to be able to receive their benefits within the walls of the 
college buildings and campus limits. 

For twenty-five or thirty years these colleges confined their efforts 
largely to two lines — the teaching of college students, and research and 
experimental work provided for by subsequent acts of Congress — both 
lines absolutely necessary to future agricultural progress. 

But as time went on, economic conditions changed in this country. 
A popular clamor was raised, demanding that the knowledge possessed by 
the scientists in our colleges and the results of the research work of our 
experiment stations should be carried out by practical demonstrations 
to the man on the land. Today the great problem in our agricultural edu- 
cation is not the teaching of college students, nor the conducting of the 
research work in our scientific laboratories, but rather the devising of 
sane, dignified and systematic methods of extension teaching whereby 

(194) 



195 

the best scientific knowledge and the most improved farm practice may 
be carried out to the American farmer in things that he can see and methods 
that he can use. 

The agricultural colleges, then, are fulfilling the ideals of their founders, 
Mr. Morrill and Mr. Lincoln, when they teach, when they expemnent, and 
when they help all the people who support them through the taxes which 
they pay. 

I have been asked to tell you what our college is doing and the con- 
tribution it is making toward building up the agriculture and rural life 
of our commonwealth. In doing this I make no apology for the frequent 
reference to our work. I recognize fully that several other institutions 
are doing a similar and even greater work than are we. 

For lack of time I say nothing about our academic and research 
work, but we must recognize clearly that the latter is the fountain head 
from which we secure all facts to be used later in our teaching and exten- 
sion work. 

I would say in passing that the organization of our college is as follows : 

1. Academic. Four years. Graduate. 

2. Experiment Station. 

3. Extensioji Service. All except above mentioned. 
Only the briefest mention of our different activities is possible. 

Like many other colleges, we offer short winter courses for mature 
men and women who can come to the college only for a short time. Hun- 
dreds come each year to our "Annual Farmers' Week," the programme of 
which is full to overflowing with the newest ideas on agriculture and 
country life. We teach apple packing and grading in a special course on 
this subject. We try to instruct special groups like the tree wardens of 
the state, fertilizer agents, seed dealers, milk inspectors, and others by 
offering courses especially adapted to their needs. \. 

We hold annually a summer school, not so much to teach practical 
agriculture as to instruct and inspire rural clergymen, librarians, grange 
officers, county Y. M. C. A. workers, boards of health, town officials, and 
others who should be the leaders in their several communities, with the 
new country life movement in order that they may return to their commu- 
nities with the knowledge of how a better community life and finer public 
spirit may be brought about. 

We bring boys from the smaller towns to the college during the summer 
to an agricultural camp and teach them agriculture, clean sportsmanship, 
recreation, photography, clean living and other interesting things. By 
this we turn their attention to their own towns and create in them a gen- 
uine sympathy for these things. We acknowledge, of course, that many 
country boys should turn their attention cityward. We hope, however, 
to help stop the general drift in this direction. 

People from all walks of life gather at our institution each summer 
in conference to discuss problems of community building and planning. 



190 

All <>\'or (HIT own nnd other slnles we find inf^i>ired lo.-ider.s earryino; oul. the 
BUggeslious HMMMViMJ at oui- conferences in their oavu towuH. 

We nr(> iu>l iiumiiuhui «)!' the foreigner within our gates. We hold 
each year, l)oth at the college and in ditTt^rt^nt sections of our state, special 
days for the Poles, Italians, Jews and Portuguese who are colonizing certain 
sections. We teach them English, civics, agTicultur(\ and strive to plant 
in them high ideals of what American (Mtizenship should be. 

We encourage all sorts of agricultural siM'ieties and organizations 
to meet at I lie collrge and arrange helpful and entertaining programmes 
for them. 

For those who canuol coxuc to live college at all, sixteen correspondence 
courses in as many agricullural subjects are oiTered at small cost. 

The nuHubers of our facuUy ga\'e tluring the past year more than 
500 free lectui'es and pr.actical demonstrations. These were gi\'en before 
nuMv's and wouumi's rhids, granges, church societies, Y. M. C A.'s, boards 
of trade and other organizations. Coiu'ses having as m.any as Iwcaity-six 
lectun^s Avere given in some conununities. 

\\ luM) U is nni>i>ssil)l(> f(>v .mo nistnu'ior \o go for tuu" ot Ihrso meet- 
ings, we send a wi-itleu lecture and a set of lantia-u slides. 

Tn such comuumiti(^s as may request .and wheri^ propia- inl(H"est is 
;;luM\n. \\(> hold extension schools of agriiailtnri^ .and lionie-making lasting 
live ilays each. Soil fertility, dairying, fruit growing, poultry raising, 
and home economics subjects are taken up. Ten t^xta-ciscs in each subject 
allows o\' {\\\\\c lliorouidi instruction being gi\rn. 1( is r<>all\- .a college 
short C(nu'S(^ transferr<\i to comunmities all ovia* the state. 

^\ (^ <\o not limit these schools to the productive side alone. Next 
\V(^>U .'in (^\t(a\sion st^hool. dt*\oted to pri^bKaiis of connnunit> dini^lop- 
ment, is to be held in one of v>ur small towns. Such subjoets as the follow- 
ing are inchuhnl in tlu^ instruction given: 

l\nvn ]>l.iniung for rural Massachusetts. 
Methods of mamiging to^n inipr(>\en)ent work. 
Improvement of home grounds. 
Co-operative buying .and selling. 
\ U(>\v nio\(Muent for local taxation. 
Better niethods o\ u\:\\\ci'mg. 
Law enforcement . 
New methods in education. 
Labor saving ai^pli.aiiees for the home. 
Rt^lation of right nutrition to general welfare. 
M;iUing up a i\Mnnnnuty vtri\i;'ran\me. .and others. 

We co-operate with steam railroads ;uul trolley lines in the opta-.itiou 
of so-called "Better Farmii\g Trains" and believe these to be an etUcient 
means of intrv>duciug farmei-s to adopt more up-to-date methods. We 

h:i\ <- pr(>t1> wi^ll delini\l plans t'or fitting up e;irs pernianeiuly. lengthen- 



197 

ing the time of stop to a half clay or day, nistead of an hour or two, and 
going out on these trips for a month or more at a time. 

We find that many managers of agricultural fairs are anxious to aban- 
don the questionable midway and "fakirs' row" to a large degree and are 
desirous of making these exhibitions more educational in their nature. 
We have prepared extensive educational exhibits and supplement these 
by five or six short practical talks and demonstrations each day. Our 
men also act as judges at these fairs, usually giving a judging demonstra- 
tion in connection with the work. That this work is appreciated is shown 
by the eagerness with which our exhibits are sought by fair managers and 
the ever increasing attendance at the educational features. 

Massachusetts is a natural fruit state but our opportunities in this 
direction have long been neglected. We are trying to build up the pro- 
duction of better fruit by planting demonstration orchards in all good 
fruit sections. These are handled mider the direction of our trained men. 
Spraying, pruning, grading and packing meetings, to which the whole 
neighborhood is invited, are held annually. Thus the orchard, being a 
practical demonstration of proper practices, becomes the center for the 
dissemination of information on this subject for that entire region. There 
are, of course, other activities, such as lectures, apple campaigns, fruit 
shows, demonstrations, advice, etc., also carried on. 

We are trying to build up the dairy industry of the state by the organi- 
zation of dairy improvement, and community breeders' associations, by 
the conducting of milk campaigns in which producers, milk handlers, 
peddlers and consumers all come in for a share of the instruction. The 
opportunity of reaching large numbers through the public schools is not 
neglected. Boys' stock judging contest, milk shows, substantial prizes 
for clean barns, healthy animals, and the elimination of flies are all a part 
of our programme. 

Two hundred and forty-eight graduates and former students of our 
college have banded themselves together into an agricultural improve- 
ment association. They pledge themselves to develop higher producing 
strains of crops and animals and to work for a better rural life. High 
grade strains of corn and potatoes are being developed for seed purposes; 
pure bred animals are being more generally introduced. 

We lack in our state reliable information about our agricultural re- 
sources, present farm practices, costs, profits, the conditions of our schools, 
our social life, etc. To secure this we plan extensive comprehensive sur- 
veys which we hope will in time cover the entire state. Using the data 
thus secured we feel that we can make pretty definite recommendations 
as to what changes are needed. 

Efficiency methods in business management and even in the adminis- 
tration of city governments have been generally accepted as desirable. 
Rural communities are still plodding along in well-beaten paths of past 
years. Through our community service work towns are advised, after a 



198 

careful examination has been made by our experts, as to what their needs 
are. The people themselves usually set about by means of committees 
to study the agricultural, educational, civic, transportation, recreative, 
and religious needs of their own communities. I have time to give you 
the results in only one community where such a movement has taken 
place. The farmers have co-operated in buying fertilizers, feed stuffs, 
spraying materials, and in selling their fruit, thus saving money at both 
ends of the transaction. Appropriations have been increased for roads. 
Experts have been called in to advise them as to how the schools may be, 
improved, landscape architects have advised them on town beautification, 
and two struggling churches have decided to unite into one strong, useful 
body. Petty jealousies have been wiped out, and there is a "get-together" 
spirit in that community which has not been known there for generations. 

We teach agriculture to more than 20,000 boys and girls through 
corn, potato, tomato canning and poultry clubs, each year. Trips to 
Washington, Boston, and the college furnish ample reward to the state 
winners. Girls performing household duties are in the future to have the 
same opportunities in this competition as their brothers who are in the 
crop and poultry contests. This club work has well been called ''the 
kindergarten of agriculture." Surely it will have a greater tendency to 
interest boys and girls in plants, animals and things agricultural than any 
other movement that has yet been started. 

In co-operation with the Bureau of Plant Industry, United States 
Department of Agriculture, we make farm management field studies and 
investigations. Farm records, showing profitable and unprofitable enter- 
prises, labor income, etc., are taken; accounting systems are introduced; 
farms are reorganized; advice is given as to equipment, buildings, cropping 
systems, rotations, etc. 

We have a demonstration auto truck equipped with spraying appara- 
tus, pruning tools, dairy appliances, stereopticon and slides, books, pam- 
phlets and other appliances, in charge of a competent demonstrator. This 
man goes from town to town meeting small groups of farmers for confer- 
ences, and then visiting individual farms to demonstrate any of the things 
on which information is desired. This is the most effective means of 
getting close to the individual farmer that we have yet tried. 

In all of this practical instruction of the farmer we are not overlooking 
the farmer's wife, his daughter, or the problems of the home. The bal- 
anced ration for the family is now to receive as much attention as the 
balanced ration for the cow. Our instructors in home economics and 
domestic science work through the granges, women's clubs, extension 
schools, teachers' associations, and other organizations for women, giving 
instruction in problems of food, sanitation, labor saving equipment, home 
beautification, textiles, clothing, etc. 

One of our recent developments is the taking on of a man trained in 
landscape architecture and thoroughly imbued with the civic improve- 



199 

ment spirit. He goes to towns where he is invited and assists in town 
planning projects, the beautification of the town commons, the planning 
of school and church grounds, the care of cemeteries, home improvement, 
the acquiring of land for play grounds, and other things of this nature. 

We assist the smaller libraries of our state to develop the habit of 
reading agricultural literature by loaning them for certain periods of time 
traveling libraries of from ten to forty of the latest and best books on 
rural life subjects. 

We believe thoroughly in the value of demonstration plots placed out 
on farms operated by the owners all over the state. Every year we have 
a large number of these showing the results to be gained from the proper 
use of fertilizers, high grade seeds, rotations, pasture renovation, etc. We 
are also placing alfalfa plots out in a similar way. The best demonstra- 
tion farm, in our judgment, is one operated by a man who can show a profit 
from his labor and management. 

We are co-operating with boards of trade and other organizations in 
the placing and maintaining of county agricultural advisers or representa- 
tives. We believe that these trained men, confining their work to a rela- 
tively small area, becoming personally and intimately acquainted with the 
farmers of their territory, and demonstrating to them better farm prac- 
tices, advising them in problems of farm management and marketing, 
and bringing into each county for the building up of the agriculture and 
rural life of that county all the help that can be obtained from the 
state college, the other agencies created in the state for purposes of fur- 
thering agricultural growth, and the United States Department of Agri- 
culture, are to be mighty factors in accomplishing the exceedingly difficult 
task of reaching the last farmer on the last farm in any region. 

If you do not think that there is a live interest in this county work 
movement in our state, I wish you might have been with me last night 
at a dinner of three hundred of Springfield's largest and most influential 
business men. They sat for nearly six hours and talked over in a most 
interesting and intimate sort of way the things they might do for develop- 
ing the rural life of Hampden County. 

We attempt to instruct the poultrymen, the beekeepers, the flori- 
culturists, the market gardeners of our state in the same manner as we do 
the dairymen, the orchardists, or the general farmers. 

We publish popular, yet reliable, leaflets and bulletins in large numbers. 

Within a month we shall have a man in the field helping to organize 
farmers' co-operative organizations for purchase and sale, giving assistance 
to farmers in marketing and along rural credit lines. 

We help thousands by personal conferences, farm visits, and letters 
each year. In fact our statistics show that we definitely and directly 
reached more than 300,000 people in our state during the past year, and of 
course there is no way of estimating those who were indirectly touched 
or influenced. 



200 

I want to impress you with this fact, that we are not one-sided in our 
work, but touch the production side of farming, the problems of marketing 
and transportation, the community problems, and the home problems alike. 

You may ask, how are we able to do this? 

We do it by the employment of persons who by temperament, scientific 
training, practical experience, and personality are able to instruct the 
farmer, the business man, and the professional man in our state. These 
extension instructors work in close touch with, and in perfect harmony with 
the teachers of our college and the research men of our experiment station. 
At present there are twenty giving full time and three or four part time in 
the work. In fact, the Extension Service of our institution is the whole 
college at work throughout the state. 

We do not accomplish this work by creating new organizations; we 
work through granges, boards of trade, men's and women's clubs, with 
the State Boards of Agriculture, Education and Health, and other state- 
wide agencies, in fact with any organizations that will join with us un- 
selfishly in building up the agriculture and rural life of our commonwealth. 
By this means all organizations are enlisted in a state-wide movement and 
campaign for rural progress. We have, in fact, a federation of thirty of 
the agricultural organizations in our state getting behind all desirable 
movements at the present time, and ''squelching" others not so desirable. 
This getting together is absolutely necessary, else waste of energy, money, 
and misunderstanding, jealousies, cross-purposes, and lack of harmony 
will evidently result. We do all this, too, without sacrificing any educa- 
tional ideals, or interference with the academic work of our institution. 

I realize perhaps more than you do that I have given a very feeble and 
inadequate description of our work, but it would have taken hours to tell 
you all. This whole movement with us is the social service spirit applied 
to rural work. 

You may raise this question : Why should all of this effort he made in 
behalf of agriculture at the present time? There are many good reasons. 
It is no longer a pretty saying — a mere platitude — that agriculture is the 
foundation of our national prosperity. The fact is being driven home 
to us on every side by the acuteness of economic conditions. 

We now consume 91 per cent of our wheat. 

We now consume 98 per cent of our corn. 

The decline in our exports of cattle /n the last five years has been 
75 per cent. 

The increase in importation of cattle has been 2000 per cent in six 
years. 

Our average yield of wheat per acre is 14 bushels; the farm average 
of western Europe is 32 bushels. This comparison is not at all to our 
credit. 

This nation is facing the question of what we are going to eat in 1963, 
when our population reaches 200.000,000 a§ it undoubtedly will 



201 

City and country dwellers alike have come to a keen realization that 
the agricultural problem is neither sectional nor territorial in its impor- 
tance. We in Massachusetts grow neither beef, wool, wheat, nor cotton 
m any quantity and yet our very existence, in fact our continued prosperity, 
depends almost entirely on knowing that some one, somewhere, is interested 
in the production of these great staple products on which we are so de- 
pendent. 

James J. Hill, among other great leaders in industrial development, 
has repeatedly called attention to the fact that the products of the sea, 
the forest and the mines are fast being exhausted, and in a virile convin- 
cing way refers to the soil as the one permanent resource, and he raises 
the question as to what we are going to do with it in the future. 

Despite all the teachings of our colleges, the work of our experiment 
stations, the publicity and instruction given through the agricultural 
press, and the great work of the United States Department of Agriculture, 
yet we face the fact today that the yield per acre of all of our great staple 
crops has not increased materially during the last forty years. 

So I think I was justified in the outset when I contended that the 
greatest problem in agricultural education and in American agriculture 
today is the instruction of the fanner who is now living on the land. This 
must be by a positive, direct, speedy process. Information must be carried 
to him by persons especially fitted for the task and by the best demon- 
stration methods. 

The principal agency from which all this work should radiate in a 
state is the state college of agriculture. Land, buildings, equipment, 
men, laboratories, etc., have been placed there at great expense. These 
institutions should be public service institutions. Their worth and use- 
fulness to a pretty large degree should be measured by the service they 
render to the people who foster and support them. We have tried to 
make our college such a public service institution. 

No man in a community is more interested in general prosperity 
than a banker. When farmers are not prosperous then bankers camiot 
be. When a farmer is charged high rates of interest or is not given fair 
credit accommodations he is made poorer. The farmer's interest is the 
banker's interest. 

Bankers may well interest themselves in, and become familiar with 
the soil, crops, prevailing farm practices, and agricultural resources of the 
region in which they live. Farmers may well consult bankers on ques- 
tions of investments, exchange, markets, etc. This interchange of informa- 
tion will be more than mutually agreeable. Bankers must surely have the 
confidence of farmers. 

There is much "frenzied" talk about farm finance at present. Many 
schemes, most of which are probably unworkable, are in the air. Per- 
sonally, I do not believe we need a system of credit for our American 
farmers based on that necessary for the peasant farmers of Europe. It's 



202 

a safe proposition for you to make long term loans to farmers on the amor- 
tization plan, as suggested by Mr. Harris of Champaign, 111., IMr. Wood- 
ruff of Joliet, 111., and others, and this would help the farmers immensely. 
I do not think that you as bankers should be asked to loan money to 
farmers on any different basis than to other business men. Give him the 
same chance as you do the man. on the street — he hasn't had this up to the 
present time. The shiftless farmer should be treated in the same way by 
you as a business man in the tovm who in yom- estunation is not making 
good. You ought to remember, however, that some one must carry the 
farmer over from seed time to harvest, and that the crying need on most 
farms is just a few hundred dollars more working capital each year. 

The matter of proper farmers' organizations to secure credit can be 
made a simple one. Ten of fifteen farmers of a community might join 
forces, declare their total assets, incorporate wdth a limited capital stock, 
and mutuall}^ agree to back each individual of the group for a loan up to 
a certain limit. This would be safe for j^ou. Could anything be easier 
for them? 

Individual bankers and the banking associations of Wisconsin, ]\Iinne- 
sota, Illinois and other middle western states are behind the farmers of that 
region. They support contests for boj^s; they are helping to secure larger 
appropriations for schools and colleges; they are contributmg toward the 
support of county agents; thej^ help secure legislation for better roads; and 
in many other ways. 

Some one at the recent Bankers' Association meeting in Boston said 
that the products of the American farms amounted to ten billions of dol- 
lars, and that this was an amount greater than had been secured from 
the gold mines of the world in the last twenty-five years. So you see that 
in assuming this interest you are dealing with a subject of no mean pro- 
portions. 

You men here in this great commercial and industrial metropolis, 
representing the banking interests of the state, can do nothing better for 
j'ourselves, j^our families or your nation than to get behind this move- 
ment here in the East and lend your thought, influence and best efforts 
to the support of the agencies which have for their aim the building up 
of our eastern agricultural and rural life. 

Mr. Calwell: It has been the custom at these meetings to have 
discussions. Dr. Kurd's paper emphasizes many things on the subject he 

has addressed us, as to the different lines of work for the farmer, and for 
college men, and if there are any questions to be asked Dr. Hurd vnll no 
doubt gladly answer them. 

I would like to ask Dr. Hurd if he knows how much is appropriated 
by the State of INIassachusetts to his college for extension work. 

Dr. WiLLT-iiVi D. Hurd: Our extension work has been organized 
four years. The first year's appropriation was $10,000, the second year 



203 

$15,000, the next year $50,000, and now we have $50,000 appropriated by 

the state for this work. 

Mr. Calwell: Pennsylvania has $10,000 appropriated for this 
same work. The paper Dr. Hurd has just read to us is going to be pub- 
Hshed, and there is enough in that paper to keep us bankers busy for the 
next five or ten years. 

The raising of crops is not the only thing, the increase of crops is not 
the only thing. They must be marketed. 

One of the greatest successes of the country is the forming of these 
farmers' exchanges in different sections, to collect goods and ship them 
mto the stations in carload lots. 

One of the most successful of these exchanges has been formed down 
in Virginia, and we have with us Mr. N. P. Wescott of the Eastern Shore 
of Virginia Produce Exchange. Mr. Wescott is very well known through- 
out agricultural sections as one of the leaders in this movement. 

Mr. Wescott will now address you. 



THE WORK OF A PRODUCE EXCHANGE. 



By N. p. Wescott, 
Eastern Shore of Vii-ginia Produce Exchange, Onley, Va. 



Farming, today and in this country, is fundamentally a business — a 
method of makmg a living. There are persons who live on farms and who, 
more or less by proxy, conduct farm enterprises, by reason of a purely 
mtellectual interest in the processes involved, or of a real or imagined taste 
for the much-advertised delights of country life, or a pride of proprietor- 
ship, or from other motives unmixed with economic necessitj^ But these 
fortunate individuals are not farmers; they are only "gentlemen-farmers." 
The true farmer farms not for love but monej^ — and gets his poetry else- 
where. Whether he stays and works the farm of his fathers or whether he' 
abandons the rear end of the plow for the front deck of a trolley car, it's 
because he can — or thinks he can — earn more that way; and whether he 
sows wheat, plants cotton or beds sweet potatoes, the ultimate crop he 
hopes to harvest is one of dollars and cents, and the exact measure of his 
success is the amount of his net profits at the end of the year. Moreover, 
after a boyhood on the farm and an experience of four years in working 
for some three thousand farmers, I shamelessly make the sordid assertion 
that profitable farmmg is profitable farming, and — Horace's celebrated 
catalogue of delights to the contrary not-^dthstanding — that it is the only 
pleasant kind. 

From this it follows that the basic factor in the problem of the farmer's 
welfare is the economic factor, and that in any thoroughgoing effort 
to improve the condition and promote the happiness of the farmer the 
question of profitableness demands first consideration and offers logically 
the best ground of attack. In attacking this problem, great stress has 
been laid upon the obvious and visible fault of unscientific methods of 
production; everyAvhere we now see experts at work teaching the farmer 
how to make two blades of grass grow where one grew before. But there 
is a more insidious fault — one less apparent but equally destructive of 
the farmer's fair measure of prosperity — which has been, I believe, not 
fully appreciated or even clearly perceived — and certainly not sufficiently 
attended to. Of what use to the farmer is the product in beef or grain 
of the two blades of grass if it have not a ready and profitable market? 
As a matter of actual experience, the farmer with a doubled output, ex- 
ceeding the normal demand or overflowing the usual channels of distribu- 
tion, frequently fuids that the very bounteousness of his harvest spells 
disaster; for the tolls levied by the various agencies of distribution are, 
in general, fixed charges, at so much per unit, and vdth even a slight de- 

(204) 



205 

cline in gross price consequent upon increased production the farmer's 
margin of profit may entirely vanish. In short, for present-day agricul- 
ture, the problems of distribution are just as vital as those of production; 
if the farmer would succeed, efficient salesmanship is just as essential as 
the maintenance of soil fertility. Yet the farmer, alone among modern 
producers, is prone to ignore this matter of selling; and in this age of highly 
specialized and elaborate salesmanship in all other industries and of in- 
creasingly scientific production in his own, we still find him in many com- 
munities pouring out his goods blindly into the hands of the commission 
merchant or bargaining them off at random to some local speculator in 
the same primitive manner that has come down to him from the days 
when Joseph and his brethren bartered the surplus products of their crude 
husbandry for the cloths and spices of the Egyptians. 

How then are these forces of aggressive salesmanship, based upon 
a searching and enlightened knowledge of national market conditions, to be 
made a part of the enterprise of the farmer? Individually he lacks the 
time, the capital, the commercial experience, and in general the business 
capacity necessary to provide them; and even were these requisites present, 
he would be helpless acting alone among a multitude of fellow-producers 
whose disposal of their products must restrict within narrow limits the 
market value of his own. Obviously, then, the true solution lies in co- 
operation — in the union in this matter of marketing of a great number of 
small producers whose combined output will entitle them to take rank 
with modern business enterprises in other fields of industry and whose 
united strength will enable them to provide at a cost which falls lightly 
upon the individual the necessary elements of expert salesmanship, capable 
business management, constant market information, and vigorous culti- 
vation of the available selling field. To the adoption of that plan there 
has been one great obstacle : the stiff-necked individualism of the American 
farmer. He doesn't take kindly to the restraints and sacrifices of co-opera- 
tion. There is too much of Robinson Crusoe in his daily life. Having 
been always captain of a very small enterprise, he has missed the training 
of a worker in the ranks of one of the more complex industries; and he 
chafes under the discipline which is indispensable to all co-operative effort. 
Indeed, so strong is this original disinclination to pull together with his 
fellows that ninety-five per cent of all efforts at co-operation among farmers 
in this country are said to have failed. Yet this principle of co-operative 
marketing is indisputably sound. The whole tendency of present-day 
industry is in that direction; and, aside from all theory, the remarkable 
success of certain farmers' co-operative selling associations that have 
weathered the early storms and grown into a vigor that gives assurance 
of stability — and no less, perhaps, the great number of new communities 
that are now hastening to take them as models — demonstrate beyond 
question the entire applicability and extreme value of the co-operative 
principle in the marketing of farm products. 



206 

Of these farmers' associations that have proved their worth by sur- 
viving, one of the earliest, and I beheve one of the most strikingly success- 
ful, is the Eastern Shore of Virginia Produce Exchange; and since the 
methods by which it has revolutionized the farmhig industry of the section 
it occupies are capable of very general application, with equal benefits, in 
other communities, a brief account of these methods and of the nature and 
present scope of the Exchange's activities will, I hope, be of interest to 
this conference. 

The Exchange claims as its territory the two counties of Virginia lying 
between Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, a thickly settled, in- 
tensely cultivated peninsula, devoted entirely to truck-farming and mainly 
to the production of Irish and sweet potatoes, though strawberries, cabbage 
and onions are also important crops. It now markets the products of some 
three thousand farmers, comprising about two-thirds of the entire output 
of the peninsula; and since it is an exasperating incident of this plan 
of co-operative marketing that even those who actively oppose the associa- 
tion will still benefit by whatever improvement in general market condi- 
tions its work may bring about, the Exchange also stands as the chief 
bulwark against market disaster for the constantly dwindling proportion 
of Eastern Shore farmers who, for one reason or another, still refuse it 
their support — as indeed most of them will freely admit. During this, 
its fourteenth year, the Exchange has marketed over eight thousand car- 
oads of Irish, and over four thousand carloads of sweet potatoes, with 
enough of its other products to make a total of some thirteen thousand 
carloads, or about two and a half million barrels, of food products. These 
goods it has sold to a customer list of more than a thousand wholesale 
produce dealers m about four hundred different cities and towns of forty- 
one different states and Canadian provinces. And for these goods it has 
obtained, and paid over to its members, a total of, m round numbers, four 
and a half million dollars. During the fourteen years covered by its 
activities, the peninsula's total annual production of farm products has 
trebled in volume, farm land values have risen from thirty-five or fifty 
to from one to two hundred dollars an acre, and there has been an ad- 
vance which baffles estimate in the general prosperity and material stand- 
ards of living of the people — and all this in one of the first settled parts of 
the oldest state in the Union, without any fresh influx of population, with- 
out the development of any new industries or transportation facilities, with- 
out even any very radical changes in methods of farming, but merely under 
the gentle stimulus of the nation's generally advancing prosperity and in 
consequence of the substitution fourteen years ago of a rational system 
of marketing in place of the old haphazard plan of consigning to commission 
merchants or selling at random to speculative buyers. Moreover, 
although it is impossible to eliminate all risk — although the farmer must 
look forward to fat years alternating with lean and there must perhaps 
always occur, as during the last half of the sweet potato season just 



207 

closing, occasional periods of adverse conditions beyond any local control, 
when farm products cannot be sold at prices which include any element of 
profit for the farmer, yet there has never been any return in the fourteen 
years of the association's activity, to the general condition of "hard 
times" which had become chronic before that period; and it is a mild 
statement of the facts to say that the Exchange has put the agriculture 
of the peninsula upon a basis of substantial and assured prosperity. 

For an undertaking of this sort, some degree of organization is of 
course necessary. Let us look first at what might be called the internal 
structure of the association. 

The Exchange is a corporation, regularly chartered under the laws 
of Virginia. Its membership, by which term I mean to include the entire 
body of persons entitled to have their products sold by it, comprises, 
first, all shareholders; second, all tenants of stockholders who at any 
time may register a desire to become regular Exchange shippers and there- 
after loyally carry out that intention; and third, holders of "certificates 
of shipping privilege," which are purchasable for the nominal sum of one 
dollar, exacted merely as an evidence of good faith, and which are non- 
transferable and become void immediately the holder ceases to market his 
goods exclusively through the association. The entire membership and 
territory of the Exchange are divided into thirty-six "local divisions," each 
centering around one or more of its forty-five shipping points. Each 
local division, acting separately and by a vote of stockholders only, elects 
annually a "general director;" and the board of thirty-six division repre- 
sentatives thus selected, meeting about monthly, and when occasion 
arises at briefer intervals, upon call of the president, exercises a general 
supervision over the current activities of the Exchange. At the close 
of each year, a general stockholders' meeting is held, at which the entire 
year's work is reviewed, possible radical changes of policy are proposed 
and acted upon, and the general officers of the association are elected 
for the following year. Of these, the general manager and the secretary- 
treasurer, in charge respectively of the sales and financial departments, of 
course devote their entire time and energies to the service of the Exchange. 
With the advice in matters of critical importance of the president, and 
with the co-operation in their respective fields of the general inspector 
and the general counsel, they direct and supervise the work of the 
central office force, of the eighty or ninety local agents and inspectors and 
of the force of traveling salesmen, act for the association in all important 
negotiations incident to its business, and, in short, direct and control 
the regular daily work of the Exchange. 

Since the central and essential one of the Exchange's various activi- 
ties is the selling of produce, a true concept of its workings can perhaps 
best be had by glancing briefly at the machinery and actual process of 
its selling. First, it must be noted that the products it handles are all 
perishable and subject to sudden and wide variations in market value. 



208 

This necessitates quick action. All sales are therefore made by wire, 
quotations being issued for acceptance on day of date only and each day 
constituting a separate selling campaign. The Postal and the Western 
Union Telegraph Company each mamtains an office, used exclusively for 
Exchange business, on the upper floor of the association's general office 
building. Incidentally it may be mentioned, as affording some idea of 
the Volume of this telegraphic correspondence, that in spite of the constant 
use of a comprehensive private code-book, of which a copy is placed in 
the hands of every customer and through which some three thousand 
of the phrases and sentences in most frequent use may be expressed by 
single words, the association's expenditures this year for telegrams will 
exceed twenty thousand dollars. From a telephone switchboard in the 
general office, centrally located at the village of Onley, five private trunk 
lines radiate to all parts of the peninsula, giving constant communication 
with the local agency at each of the forty-five loading points. Early in 
the morning of the tj'pical day in the selling season, in the large office 
room where the general manager and his four immediate assistants are 
gathered to begin the day's work, reports are received by 'phone from each 
local agency of its prospective loading for the day — the number of cars 
and the quality and grade of each. In the meanwhile, information is 
being received by telegraph from connections of the Exchange in the big 
eastern markets of the exact state of those markets. From the associa- 
tion's representatives in all the other important market centers of the 
country, constant telegraphic information is also available as to local 
conditions and prices; and by friendly associations or dealers in other 
producing sections, we are also kept informed as to the loading and move- 
ment of the commodity in question in those sections. Being thus in 
possession of rather complete information covering the two essential factors 
of supply and demand, the general manager is able, with something at 
least akin to scientific accuracy, to determine the potential market value 
of his goods; and by eight or nine o'clock a range of prices is determined 
upon and the day's selling campaign is begun with a fusillade of telegraphic 
quotations, reinforced with whatever selling arguments the occasion may 
offer, to the Exchange's customers and brokers all over the country and 
to its outside salesmen stationed upon the various large markets: a fusil- 
lade, of course, to be met and followed throughout the entire course of 
the day by acceptances and counter-offers, confirmations, refusals and 
all the other incidents of wholesale selling, with the ultimate and ever- 
present purpose on the part of the Exchange of selling out so nearly as 
possible the entire day's loading at the best range of prices obtainable under 
the given set of general market conditions that may then happen to pre- 
vail. As fast as orders are booked, particular cars are appropriated to 
them, with the double purpose in view of moving about an equal propor- 
tion of every station's goods and of supplying each customer with the 
grade of stock his trade demands; and shipping directions are given by 



200 

'phone to the local agents. In the evening, the day's sales-bulletin is 
completed before being passed on to the accounting department by "pool- 
ing the prices" — a process of averaging by which each grower will be paid, 
not necessarily the exact price received for his particular lot of goods, but 
the average price received for all goods of the same grade and value with 
his on the day in question; and as rapidly as the necessary bookkeeping 
work can be carried through, payment for each day's sales is rushed for- 
ward to the local agents, to whom the growers go for settlement. Each 
agent is of course required to keep an account with every shipper and to 
make payments exclusively by check; and at the end of the shipping 
season all agents must turn in their checks, books and records for audit 
by the bookkeeping force at the general office. All risks of collection 
are assumed by the association; and all expenses of the business are met 
by a commission of five per cent on the gross sales, which is of course de- 
ducted when the original returns are made. 

In carrying out its appointed mission, the Exchange has consistently 
adhered to certain well-defined working principles, by which its general 
course of action has been determined and upon which, I believe, its success 
broadly rests. These demand specific mention, both as being necessary 
to an appreciative understanding of the work of this association and be- 
cause they are broadly applicable, with equal advantage, to similar efforts 
in a great number of other communities. 

First, with reference to what may be termed the "home policy" of 
the Exchange: All such movements are necessarily militant; to under- 
stand the workings of any such co-operative association, it must be borne 
constantly in mind that every minute of its life is a fight — a struggle first 
for existence and afterward (if there be any "afterward' ') for an increasing 
measure of supremacy. For the success of any such movement means 
loss, or unwelcome change, of occupation for the local exponents of pre- 
viously existing agencies of distribution which it is the very purpose of 
the association to supplant. To assume that we have a vested right in 
whatever benefits we have once uninterruptedly enjoyed, regardless of the 
original basis of such enjoyment, seems to be a universal fallacy of human 
nature; and these men, speculative buyers perhaps or solicitors for com- 
mission houses, will very quickly be found fighting the new movement 
in a spirit of personal resentment born of a misgukled sense of personal 
injury and with all the vigor of the instinct of self-preservation. Each 
of these men of course has some personal following among the farmers; 
and each can devise a hundred ways to estrange supporters from and 
incite antagonism to the association. The leaders, therefore, in the co- 
operative movement must be propagandists — preachers of a new doctrins 
of solidarity and vigorous advocates of an occasional surrender of immedi- 
ate and temporary self-interest for the general and permanent good; 
and throughout the career of such an association, parallel with its external 
activities as a business concern, there must be kept up in some form this 



210 

constant internal campaign of stimulating loyalty within the ranks and 
of gaining new recruits. With the Eastern Shore of Virginia Exchange, 
this fight has been fierce and incessant from the start, and marked by a 
degree of enthusiastic loyalty on the part of the association's supporters 
and of bitter antagonism on the part of its leading enemies for which a 
parallel can hardly be found in politics, or elsewhere than in war. From 
the beginning it was realized that every Eastern Shore farmer who was 
not for and with the Exchange was against it — that every man who fur- 
nished potatoes to the local dealers whose operations had for years proved 
disastrous to the country's prosperity and who were now actively seeking 
to destroy the association, was giving not only "aid and comfort" but in 
a very real sense ammunition to the enemy. And from the very start 
the Exchange has insisted as the cardinal and almost only obligation of 
membership, upon the constant and undivided loyalty of every member. 
The very minute an Exchange man yields to the blandishments of the 
local buyer or to the attraction of an artificial price set slightly in advance 
of the fair market value of his goods for advertising purposes and in ordei 
to make a break in the ranks, the moment he sells a barrel outside the 
Exchange, he forfeits all rights of Exchange membership and unless re- 
instated by special resolution of the boaid of directors can make no further 
shipments through the association for the entire remaiuder of the year. 
And although occasional more or less valid grounds of dissatisfaction 
with the Exchange are bound to arise, and the local buyers are alwaj^s 
on the alert to pick off stragglers, the total number of desertions has been, 
on the whole, surprisingly few. 

Again, the Exchange differs radically from the ordinary corporation 
m that its purpose is not the making of profits for its stockholders. Its 
entire capital stock, in fact, is only forty-two thousand dollars, divided into 
shares of a par value of only five dollars, which it has been the constant 
and reasonably successful aim of the directors to keep widely distributed 
in small holdings. In addition, a surplus fund of about a hundred and ten 
thousand dollars has been gradually accumulated from the profits of the 
business; and it is now a regular provision of the by-laws that at the end 
of each year, after payment of a dividend not to exceed ten per cent, what- 
ever net profits may remain shall be divided in half, one half being added 
to the surplus in order that the association's fixed resources may keep 
pace with the constant growth of its business and the other half being 
distributed back among all the loyal shippers of the Exchange, whether 
stockholders, tenants of stockholders or holders of shipping privileges 
merely, in proportion to their respective contributions of produce. At the 
close of the present season, barring any unexpected large loss not now 
apparent, about fifty thousand dollars remains to be so divided. 

And now with respect to the external activities of the Exchange, 
in pursuit of its original and proper purpose of marketing the products of 
its members: First and foremost, it aims at enlightened and aggressive 



211 

salesmanship. It gets out for business. It goes to the buyer, urges upon 
him the merits of what it has to sell, and assures to the farmer for whom it 
acts a real voice m the negotiations that determine the selling price of his 
goods. . The man who announced to the world that it takes two to make 
a bargain never witnessed a transaction between a capable buyer of farm 
products and a small farmer, helpless in his ignorance of general market 
conditions and tied up by the necessity of selling promptly; and certainly 
that sage never dreamed that whole communities of producers might 
dump the fruits of their annual labors into the indifferent markets of 
distant cities without regard to any relationship between supply and de- 
mand, there to be sold for whatever they might chance to bring. More 
than ninety per cent of the total output of the Exchange is sold f. o. b. 
loading point, the exact price being a matter of contract before the cars 
roll, and the small remainder which is consigned to its authorized selling 
agents in near-by markets being mainly odd lots and goods of inferior 
grade or doubtful keeping qualities which it is unwilling to put out to its 
regular trade. In pushing the sale of its products, the association has been 
constantly reaching out into new territory, until its market, which was at 
first confined mainly to a few eastern cities, now includes a considerable 
part of Canada and practically the entire United States east of the Pacific 
slope. To provide a more direct and personal means of communication 
with its trade, the Exchange has found it advantageous to station its own 
men throughout the selling season in many of the leading market centers. 
This year it sent out from its general office representatives to Boston, 
Toronto, Buffalo, Detroit, Scranton, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Kansas City and 
Davenport, Iowa, and next year Montreal and probably St. Louis will be 
added. 

Again, the Exchange aims to substitute an intelligent singleness of con- 
trol and unity of action in the marketing of the products of the peninsula 
for unrestrained and often frantic competition among a great number of 
small producers. It may be objected that this is monopolistic. It is. 
But monopoly is not 'per se and under all circumstances a matter for just 
condemnation; and the sort of monopoly that has made the term odious 
has not been, and is not apt to be, a monopoly effected by small farmers 
in a restricted agricultural section. Whenever in any industry the individ- 
ual producers are so numerous, their separate output so small in volume, 
their resources and facilities for utilizing potential market advantages 
so scant, and their needs so pressing as to render unrestricted competition 
between them disastrous to their industry and to destroy the incentive 
of a normal degree of profitableness, then combination, and if you will 
monopoly, between them is not only justifiable but demanded by the 
best interests of the country at large. On the Eastern Shore, in the five 
years preceding the organization of the Exchange, the marketing of farm 
products was coming gradually into the hands of a class of men known as 
"local buyers," of whom one or more could be found at every loading point. 



212 

These men bought from the farmers, generally to fill orders previously 
booked. As a matter of actual experience, the competition was all in the 
selling end of their business. The farmers, uninformed as to general 
market conditions and forced by the perishable nature of their goods to 
make quick sales, were helpless to do any real bargaining and pretty gen- 
erally accepted whatever price the local buyers offered. Moreover, as these 
local buyers were men of small capital and worked generally for a per pack- 
age brokerage or margin of profit, regardless of whether prices happened 
to be high or low, they had a very positive interest in establishing and 
maintaining a low range of prices. And the actual and inevitable result 
of their activities had come to be that after a brief period of early high 
prices, before the general crop movement was well under way, the market 
would fall to about the lowest level at which the farmers could be induced 
to pack and haul out their alread}^ matured products rather than leave them 
to rot in the ground. It was a realization of the abuses inherent in this 
system of "laissez faire" marketing and a determination to supplant it 
that furnished the initial momentum for the movement to establish the 
Exchange. 

Again, the Exchange stands for the standardization of farm products. 
It aims to get the farmer more for his goods by making those goods intrin- 
sically worth more — and above all, by making their worth more certain — 
by making the contents of his packages a fair inference from the manifest 
and the top layer, and not, as is too often the case with the farmer's pack, 
a mere matter of conjecture. When the Exchange member hauls his goods 
to the station, they go first to the local inspector, who must examine and 
pass upon them, emptying a barrel at random from every load, before 
they go into the car. Certain definite standards of culling, of size and 
filling of packages, and of quality and condition of contents, are insisted 
upon; and only goods which meet these requirements are sold under the 
association's official mark of approval — its registered trade mark, the Red 
Star Brand. To promote uniformity and insure certainty of inspection, a 
general inspector, having now complete administrative control of the 
entire force of local inspectors, with power of removal, and provided with 
an assistant, travels constantly from one shipping point to another, coach- 
ing and reviewing the work of the local inspectors. The process involved, 
as it affects the farmer, is one of education, and therefore slow, and the 
results thus far attained leave much to be accomplished, as an occasional 
letter from some exasperated customer still forces us to admit; but great 
and permanent progress has indisputably been made in this field of the 
association's labors, and it is not too much to say that the Red Star Brand 
has now acquired a national reputation among produce dealers, which 
insures the goods that bear it a preference in practically every important 
market in the United States. 

And finally, and more comprehensively, the Exchange aims at, and 
has in large measure achieved, first through the natural economy of operat- 



213 

ing on a large scale, and secondly through the elimmation of useless middle- 
men and the simplifying of unnecessarily slow and complicated marketing 
processes, the lowest possible cost of distribution. It gets for the farmer a 
larger number of the hundred pennies in the ultimate consumer's dollar, 
not by increasing the size of that dollar, but by reducing the number 
absorbed in the tolls and wastes of unintelligent, haphazard methods of 
distribution. To illustrate by a rather extreme example, under the old sys- 
tem of marketing still in vogue in many sections, the farmer ships twenty 
barrels of sweet potatoes "on consignment" to a commission merchant in 
New York, who, as the market in that city happens to be glutted, sells them 
for a trifle more than freight charges to a speculative buyer, who combines 
thtm into a car with a hundred and eighty other barrels similarly bought 
and sells them at a profit to a Chicago dealer, who resells them at a further 
profit to a wholesaler at Milwaukee. The farmer gets nothing; but 
Mrs. Janssen, of Milwaukee, who buys a half peck of these potatoes, 
must pay a proportionate part of the profits of these several dealers, of 
the several separate assessments of freight, and of the shrinkage in the 
car by reason of its several handlings and of the long delay. Under the 
present system, the Exchange sells direct by wire to the wholesale dealer 
at Milwaukee, who is on its regular quoting list and with whom it is in 
direct and constant touch; the original twenty barrels of potatoes move 
out with those of other members of the association, the same day they are 
loaded, direct to Milwaukee under a car-lot rate of freight; the Milwau- 
kee dealer and Mrs. Janssen pay probably about the same; the railroads 
lose their freight charges for the roundabout, double haul; the commis- 
sion man, the speculator and the Chicago dealer find, let us hope, more 
useful employment; and the farmer gets a living price for his goods. 

The Exchange, be it remembered, has no quarrel with the economic- 
ally legitimate middleman. And in particular, we believe that too much 
importance has been attached to the dishonesty of commission merchants; 
that for every dollar filched from the American farmer by the dishonesty 
of a commission merchant, a hundred have been lost through his own 
stupidity in blindly followmg unintelligent and outgrown methods of 
marketing. In our industrial life, the processes of distribution are just 
as important as those of production; the man who in any efficient way 
facilitates the transfer of our farm products from those who grow to those 
who eat them is just as truly and creditably helping to feed the country 
as the man that guides the plow. But whenever the machinery of dis- 
tribution is found unnecessarily cumbersome, when its processes are 
needlessly complex and* circuitous, when the movement of its products 
departs from that commercial straight line which is the shortest practical 
distance between the two points of producer and consumer, then the 
superfluous middleman is an economic nuisance and his earnings an in- 
tolerable tax. And it is in the discovery and elimination of these need- 
less complexities, in the blazing out of new trails of commercial direct- 



214 

ness, that these farmers' exchanges now springing up all over the land 
have their basic function, and in the consciousness of aiding to bring the 
great work of distributing our farm products up to the same standards 
of enlightened and enterprising efficiency that prevail in other depart- 
ments of our national industry that the architects and inciters of these 
movements must find their chief satisfaction. And if in my fragmentary 
account of the work of the Eastern Shore of Virginia Produce Exchange 
there has seemed to be nothing very new or remarkable, if its aims and 
methods have seemed merely analogous to those of any other well-regulated 
business enterprise, I ask you to recall Doctor Johnson's illustration 
of the dog walking upon its hind legs — a performance which he described 
as not remarkable in itself, nor for the intrinsic excellence with which it 
was clone, but because it was a dog that did it — and to reflect that the true 
import of this work and the augury which it carries of a better era lie in 
the fact that it has been the unaided work, in a typical community, of 
the American farmer, who has so long been the dog, and the under dog, 
in our industrial life and has so generally been contented to go aimlessly 
upon all-fours in the vital matter of the marketing of his products. 

Mr. Calwell: We have with us Mr. Stubbs, who is chairman of 
the Agricultural Committee of the Pennsylvania Bankers' Association. 
I would like to give him three or four minutes if he will come to the plat- 
form. 

Mr. Stubbs: When we are told, as we just have been told by Mr. 
Harris, how many acres we control in Pennsylvania, of course we then have 
to consider ourselves bankers. We have no doubt all listened to the pam- 
phlet Mr. Harris read on Pennsylvania Agricultural Statistics, showing 
Pennsylvania in the rear. I attended, as Mr. Harris has told you of, the 
convention in Minneapolis and in Kansas City. I must say I was ashamed 
to see how lacking we were in interest in agricultural matters, Mr. Harris 
has certainly given us a splendid address, and I believe this subject of 
extension work of agricultural colleges is going to be more and more an 
important factor in their work, and we need to interest ourselves in it. 
The members of the Pennsylvania Agricultural College, Mr. McDowell 
and Mr. Watts, have already told us of some of the work being done there 
and also as to the annual appropriations the college receives from the 
state, last year $20,000 being appropriated. And I think you will all agree 
with me when I say the work of the field demonstrator is a most efficient 
medium in extension work. As one of our Washington men has told 
us, when he sits in his office in Washington and sends out circulars and 
correspondence, progress is slow, but when he goes out or sends represen- 
tatives to the states in the South where he has been doing the work, then 
he gets results. We want to advance along the line of the field demon- 
strator. It is certain that the Committee on Agriculture of the Pennsyl- 
vania Bankers' Association will again come to you in an effort to have you 



215 

help along this important movement. Our college authorities tell us we 
helped some in getting that appropriation through last year. They want to 
advance it the next time, and what better service can we give than to help 
that movement. The college authorities tell us they want to fill in the 
missing link between themselves and the farm by the farm-bureau man and 
the field demonstrator. They said it is necessary that we put some col- 
lege men out into the field demonstrating, where they will talk to and show 
the farmer, and we hope you will help Pennsylvania State College along 
this line. It is not merely a question of getting into this work out of 
sympathy, or anything of that kind, but this movement is getting big, 
and the banker has been backward in getting into it. Something is going 
to come of this movement, it is going to crystallize sooner or later, and 
the bankers better be in it, because we want something to say on these 
things along financial lines, and the bankers ought to have a part in it. 
So far as the Pennsylvania banker is concerned, I think we are progressing 
in it, because we have the Corn Exchange National Bank as a member 
of the Pennsylvania Bankers' Association and they have been doing a 
splendid work. It was a novel idea of Mr. CalwelPs in starting this corn 
show and giving these cash prizes ($1,250) and we ought to be glad we 
have in Pennsylvania a banking interest in this movement. Do you know 
if there is any state in the Union that has a national bank taking such an 
interest in this movement as the Corn Exchange National Bank of Phila- 
delphia? So I say we must be alive ourselves if we are not going to be 
ashamed of ourselves by not devoting at least a portion of our time to 
this great question of agriculture among the banking interests of the 
country. 

Mr. Calwell: Mr. Forrest Crissey, whose name is on the program, 
is not here today and we have an old Corn Exchange Bank boy with us. 
He is standing there near the door. [Applause.] If he hadn't gone out 
of the bank some years ago, he would have my job today. He is 
engaged today as city statistician. I am going to ask Dr. Cattell to speak 
to you. 



ADDRESS. 



By Edward James Cattell, 
Statistician, City of Pliiladelpliia. ^ 



I welcome from my heart the opportunity which Mr. Calwell has given 
me to address this important body on this important subject, because this 
meeting appeals to me strongly, not only because of the vital necessity 
of studying agricultural problems, but because I can speak to you as an 
old bank boy — one whose privilege it was to labor in the Corn Exchange 
National Bank nearly fifty years ago. 

I am further glad to speak because it offers opportunity for me to 
thank the preceding speaker for his most illuminating and interesting 
explanation of the system established on the peninsula for the handling of 
farm products, which certainly points the way along which an immense 
amount of good can be accomplished, resulting in added wealth to the pro- 
ducer and, through an increased volume of products, reducing cost of living 
to the consumers. 

While he was talking, an old memory of a visit to the eastern shore 
came back to me with compelling force — a visit on a farm, when young, 
where I met the two laziest men I have ever come across in my world-wide 
journeyings. These brotlVers were so lazy that it took two of them to 
sneeze, one to throw his head back, and the other to make the noise; and 
they would sometimes wait an hour, or two hours, the one for the other, 
rather than essay the awful strain of sneezing individually. I do not for 
a moment mean to Suggest that this traditional opposition to labor still 
prevails in the peninsula today, or that it is in any way responsible for the 
necessity which has brought about this splendid system of distribution. 
At the same time, it may suggest a certain line of development which 
promises great returns to the nation at large, namely, a more energetic 
and intelligent handling of the food-producing question. We have fallen, 
of late, into the habit, especially in financial centers, of regarding this 
country as practically a finished country. It is the commonplace of our 
public speakers, and of the press, to refer to the good old days when there 
were plenty of opportunities, plenty of unoccupied land, and the nation 
was just being opened up. Of course this is all nonsense. After an 
agricultural development which has staggered the world by its rapidity, 
we have still, awaiting utilization practically three-fourths of the surface 
of the republic; and if you take into consideration the multiplication of 
producing power, born of intensive farming, it is almost impossible to meas- 
ure the extent to which we can increase our product from even our present- 

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217 

day area of cultivated land. For when you remember that we, on prac- 
tically virgin soil, are raising crops less than one-third the volume raised 
in Europe on land tilled for more than a thousand years, a faint idea is 
obtained of the development ahead of us if we do our duty. 

When, also, it is recalled that in many sections product per acre 
has been raised, in certain crops, from 30 bushels to 300 bushels to the 
acre, there comes a vision of a new America, and a new area of prosperity, 
alongside of which all other eras will seem practical failures. 

We must look at this question on all sides, and that is the great 
advantage of just such a convention as this, where men who are scientific- 
ally trained to approach great economical questions, who are accustomed 
in their daily business life to measure probabilities underlying various 
kinds of projects, put their whole attention for a time on this one great 
question of producing and marketing agricultural products. 

As I have already said, it is dangerous to regard a question from 
only one point of view and to believe that this point is the only point. 
That lesson was driven home to me recently when driving a car along a 
New Jersey road. Rounding a corner I found my progress blocked by 
an overturned load of hay. The driver of the team was slowly endeavoring 
to clear the roadway. He seemed so hot and tired that I suggested that 
he take a rest for a few moments. "No!" he answered sharply. "I 
cannot stop; father wouldn't like it." His manner, as well as his words, 
rebuffed me, and I lit a cigar, paced up and down for five minutes, then 
the fellow's evident exhaustion made me feel it my duty to again warn him. 
Putting my hand on his shoulder I said, ''My dear fellow, you must rest 
for a few minutes; you are getting dangerously hot." "No!" he again 
replied, "I cannot stop; father wouldn't like it." Annoyed at this seeming 
excess of meekness, I exclaimed, "Where is your father?" "Under the 
hay," was his terse answer. 

In this case I had misjudged the whole situation, blaming the man's 
risk of his life to a fear of a scolding from a father safely resting at home, 
whereas the case did justify active effort on the part of my new acquaint- 
ance. This, as I say, suggests the necessity of looking at this question 
from all points of view, and I believe if that course is followed one of the 
first points that will impress itself deeply on the fair-minded student is a 
fact which has given me cause for serious thought. I had noted, as you 
all have noted, the tremendous amount of space occupied in the press with 
record of speeches and articles charging excessive freight rates on the 
railroads, and ascribing many of our ills to this condition. What a new 
light is thrown on this whole subject when, studying a little deeper, we 
come to realize that all this agitation has to do witH freight rates which 
figure at less than one cent a ton a mile. Meanwhile, nothing, hardly, 
is said of our foolishness in following a policy in road development which 
places upon our moving crops an excess cost of certainly not less than 
fifteen cents a ton a mile. 



218 

A short time ago I investigated the movement of merchandise and 
crops from point of production to point where they first reached a rail or 
river shipping station; in other words, the distance the articles were trans- 
ported over the old roads of the country. This worked out an average 
of nine miles, at a cost of 25 cents a ton a mile. Had these roads been in 
proper condition, the cost would have certainly not been more than 
10 cents a ton a mile. This condition is due to the fact that practically 
nine-tenths of all the roads in the country are in exactly the same con- 
dition as when finished by the first settlers. This handicap on general 
prosperity represents not merely the added cost of moving food and various 
kinds of product, but this high toll on the initial movement is so great, 
that millions of tons of product rot back to nature and play no part in creat- 
ing that exchange between various types of producers, which is the founda- 
tion of a country's prosperity and the advancing condition of its civilization. 

A few years ago it was shown that more than six hundred million tons 
moving on the railroads had a value at point of production less than one 
dollar a ton. . This figure illustrates what a tremendous factor this excess 
cost of movement over roads to initial point of shipment is in the general 
run of affairs; for this excess is greater than the average value of this 
immense body of product. 

I feel that one result of this convention will be a closer attention to the 
question of good roads and a proper utilization of such roads as now exist 
by a system of gathering product in small quantities from farmers of a 
common neighborhood, concentrating into salable lots many small bodies 
of product which now, because of their smallness, will not pay cost of pack- 
ing, transportation and distribution in the cities. 

I am naturally an optimist, and the longer I live the stronger grows 
that optimism. Only recently a friend called to see me, a dear old Irish- 
man who has never outgrown his habits and forms of speech acquired on 
the other side of the Atlantic. "Well, Mr. Cattell," he exclaimed as he 
entered my office, "I'm going out to the Sandwich Islands," to which I 
replied, "Man alive, you cannot stand it. I have been out there myself 
and it is 185 degrees in the shade." Back came his answer, "By the 
saints, I needn't stay in the shade all the time!" 

We want more of this self-confidence, this belief that even if we do 
not understand a situation our native ability will show us some way to 
change our position for the better. Then, too, we want a little of the spirit, 
it seems to me, of another acquaintance, living here in Philadelphia, 
whose ill-fortune it was to fall from the roof of a very high building; and 
by the testimony of those occupying offices in the building, this man, as 
he passed each floor in his perilous descent, exclaimed, "Don't worry, 
I'm all right up to the present time." He evidently waited for the final 
bump and tried to enjoy himself during the trip before that bump arrived. 

I suggest, therefore, that this convention, when it dissolves, and its 
units return to their home environment, carry back, each to his special 



219 

circle of friends, the high resolve to look hopefully to the future; to wait 
until trouble comes before bearing the suffering incident to that trouble; 
to realize clearly that every American is here enjoying a unique position; 
that every American is a sovereign of divine right, with some special work 
to do, allotted him by the living God, which no other man can do— work 
which, if he leaves undone, somebody, somewhere, is certain to suffer loss 
from his neglect. Let us all remember that experience which Mr. Carlisle 
had when he went to make complaint to a neighbor about the suffering 
caused by the crowing of this woman's game cocks at night. ''Madam," 
said he, "I cannot stand their noise, they drive me crazy." "Why, Mr. 
Carlisle," replied the woman, '-you are exaggerating. The poor birds 
only crow three times each night; each crow only lasts three seconds; 
what are nine seconds of suffering to a strong man like you." "Madam," 
exclaimed Carlisle, "You don't know what I suffer waiting for the damn 
things to crow." 

Let us drop this habit of waiting for trouble and anticipating dis- 
aster. On every side are hopeful signs if we will only read them with honest 
eyes. In 1869 I crossed this continent on the first roads linking the Atlan- 
tic and Pacific. On that journey I traveled five days over a tract of land 
which every map in the world described as the American desert. Today, 
thanks to science, in the heart of that desert they are raising three crops 
a year. I can well remember the day when all through the South notices 
were posted threatening a fine to people who left cotton seed as waste in 
the streets. Today that despised cotton seed, thanks to science, furnishes 
us a credit balance, through exports, of more than one hundred and 
twenty-five million dollars a year. Science has done much ; science will do 
more. Today we take five hundred and seventy million tons of coal out 
of the earth annually, wasting two hundred and fifty million tons under 
ground. Science will show us how to save this waste of two hundred and 
fifty million tons. When we take into use the coal mined, we get out of 
it eleven per cent of its power and waste eighty-nine per cent. Science 
will show us how to get the eighty-nine per cent and waste only eleven 
per cent. 

Today, there is running to waste in the rivers of the United States, 
three times the pulling power of all the horses of the world. Science will 
show us how to harness this power to the uses of commerce and manu- 
facture, and a new body of purchasing power will be called into existence. 
Dry farming methods in the West, drainage of submerged land in the South, 
reclamation of arid land in all parts of the country, are creating each year 
a new farming republic; and he who is a pessimist in face of such condi- 
tions, it seems to me, should consult as soon as possible his medical practi- 
tioner. 

This conference is one which should command the respect of the 
whole country, for it has to do with the production of food, basis of all 
prosperity, foundation of all civilization. It is a great national work upon 



220 

which you are engaged. Participating in such a meeting as this, you are 
playing the part of statesmen in the truest sense of the word; and I may 
be pardoned, I feel, if, holding this view of the present conference, I 
express a feeling of intense satisfaction at finding such a movement led 
by the Corn Exchange National Bank. One of my family was the first 
president of this bank, and it was through his efforts that this city of 
Philadelphia obtained the establishment of League Island as a great 
Naval Station — a naval station which some day, in time of peril, may 
prove the salvation of the whole country. The Corn Exchange Bank, with 
its associate the Corn Exchange of Philadelphia, * in time of national peril 
rallied to the support of the National Government, organized and equipped 
an important regiment of soldiers, and out of a small membership contrib- 
uted three hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars to their support 
and maintenance. 

These facts are m.entioned here, and by me, merely to suggest the 
thought that the Corn Exchange Bank is only following its tradition in thus 
inaugurating a great national movement like this Agricultural Conference, 
for participation in, and leadership of, truly patriotic movements has 
always been the practice of the Corn Exchange Bank. 

In closing, I want to put before you a little picture which always 
confronts me as the Christmas season draws near, lending to that season 
a certain note of feeling which it might otherwise lack. Years ago, travel- 
ing down the Volga, in far Russia, I stopped at a little village where all the 
people were engaged in making toys — making toys which were sent all 
over the world at Christmas time, to tell in their own sweet way the story 
of the Christ to other children and to older folks who still hold the child 
heart clean and sweet, even if gray hair had come to be their portion and 
their crown. As I watched these children in this village fashioning toys, 
little children who as they worked looked out through narrow windows 
upon a vast stretch of untilled land, land untilled because of bad govern- 
mental conditions, one of the children dropped the toy upon which she was 
working upon the hard, earthen floor. I said to my guide, "Is she ner- 
vous because I'm watching? " "No," he replied, "she is weak from hunger. 
All our children are always hungry." It is a peculiar fact that hunger 
and harvest have the same root in the Russian tongue; and the saddest 
music I have ever listened to is the song of the Russian reapers as they come 
back from the fields after harvest. 

Gentlemen, we are about to enter the Christmas season. Each will 
find in his own home environment a new reason to love life, a new incentive 
to make life more lovable for others ; and my prayer to you tonight is that 
you will bear in mind what I have said of these hungry children in far Russia, 
a land with an area as great as the whole North American continent, and as 
you remember these other children always hungry, in a land where food 
should be plentiful, you should ask God to help you to utilize every natural 
* Today known as the Commercial Exchange. 



221 

gift in your possession, to the end that the law-abiding spirit of our people 
may increase, that love of country may develop a spirit of statesmanship 
that will result in wise laws, and that a movement of this character, having 
for its object a better utilization of God's great gift in the shape of fertile 
lands, may receive from you your best efforts, your highest energies, so 
that never may it come to be said by a visitor to this broad, brave land, 
that our children are always hungry; that the reapers returning from the 
harvest field sing a song that wrings the heart with its pathos and its 
despair. 

Mr. Calwell: Mr. Cattell has emphasized the Corn Exchange 
Bank. But I didn't know he was going to do it, as the Corn Exchange 
Bank is not the whole thing in this movement. 

On the front of this programme you will see the various organizations 
in this city who have taken part in this movement, the various educa- 
tional societies and last, but not least, I would call your attention to the 
Pennsylvania Rural Progress Association, and the Philadelphia Society 
for Promoting Agriculture. 

Mrs. Smith and Mr. Kates, who represent those associations, have 
both worked very hard for this programme, and the success of this con- 
vention and conference is in great part due to their efforts. 

Gentlemen, I thank you all. 

[Adjourned to 8 p. m.] 



Saturday, December 6, 1913, 8 p. m. 
Council Chamber, City Hall, Philadelphia. 



Mrs. Smith, Chairman: As this conference is about to come to a 
close I would like to say a few words to you as to how this conference 
came to be. It has been accomplished through the co-operation of the 
Com Exchange Bank, the various trades bodies of the city of Philadel- 
phia, the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, and the Penn- 
sylvania Rural Progress Association — all represented in this conference. 

I want to ask every one of you who come from other cities to take 
home with you some of these programmes, and we would like to call the 
attention of the various chambers of commerce and bankers of your 
towns to this conference that the Pennsylvania Rural Progress Association 
proposes to be available for the getting up of other conferences such as this. 
Outside of Philadelphia we organized a conference lasting three days last 
spring in Williamsport, in co-operation with the Chamber of Commerce. 
It will help agricultural progress and bring the city and country in closer 
touch and do a great amount of good. 

So let me tell you the Rural Progress Association of Pennsylvania 
stands ready to organize conferences of this sort in any small town or 
large town. That we only have to hear from the people in order to come 
there and make arrangements to make up a programme to last a day, an 
afternoon, or evening, or last three days if it is desired. And that is just 
what we hope to be able to do for Pennsylvania, to bring about a closer 
touch between the town and the markets and the rural districts. 

I want to introduce to you Mr. Russell R. Lord, of Baltimore, who 
will speak to you for a few minutes. 



(222) 



DEMONSTRATION OF AGRICULTURAL HIGH SCHOOL 
METHODS AND RESULTS. 



By Russell R. Loed, Abram Pearce and Lee Parry, 

Three Graduates of the Sparks (Md.) Agricultural High School and Members of the 
Boys' Committee on the Oread School of C!ountry Life. 



Russell R, Lord: I am one-third of three country boys who have 
tackled a big job, — a kind of agricultural three-ring circus on our own 
hook. This show which we have gotten up for your benefit is intended to 
give an idea of some of the methods by which our alma mater— the Agri- 
cultural High School at Sparks, Maryland, — has succeeded in raising the 
entire countryside, which supports it, on a superior plane. In the five 
years of its existence it has made grow the proverbial two blades of grass 
where before there was but one; better still, it has made grow two thoughts 
where before there was but one. 

Some of these soil experiments which we bring to you are those which 
performed in the school laboratory, gave rise to the alarming rumor over 
the farthermost ends of our county that 'Hhey don't do no thin' at Sparks 
but make mud pies." As a matter of fact, much of our soil physics demon- 
stration is just about as simple and easy as making mud pies. But I believe 
that you will see a very real method in our madness. And perhaps you 
will begin to suspect, before we finish our performance, that a great deal 
of agricultural high schooling is play — and blamed interesting play at 
that. I am almost prepared to say that the true success of our school lay 
in its putting everyone — old and young — to playing agriculture profit- 
ably. Properly played, you know, the game of farming is just as much 
fun as the game of baseball. 

Aside from my duties as ringmaster of this show, my real excuse for 
being on my feet is to tell you of my short experience in ''Making Corn 
Make Good." It is neither profound nor astonishing, but I believe that I 
have chanced upon some figures that mean dollars in or out of the pockets 
of everyone in this audience who grows corn, or feeds it, or eats it himself. 

Every person in this room, as well as every ear of corn on our demon- 
stration table, has been shaped by two great fundamental forces — environ- 
ment and heredity. Heredity furnishes the material, good or bad ; environ- 
ment molds it, for good or bad. 

As in the case of people, almost all the attention is paid to the en- 
vironment of a corn crop. Great pains is taken in the molding, regard- 
less of the inherent merit or demerit of the material. The newest method 
of making corn make good might well be called corn eugenics. 

(223) 



224 

A great many of you know the story of "Boone County White." 
Its introduction into our county by our school has resulted in an annual 
increase in the value of the corn crop sufficient, economists figure, to pay 
for the school every year. 

My experience with corn started in 1910 when, with four other fel- 
lows, I ran, as my summer experiment required by the school, a variety 
test plat. The following were the results: 

"Boone County White" yielded 14.8 barrels per acre. 

"Selection 77" " 13.2 " " " 

"Clarage" " 12.2 " " " 

"Hybrid 100" " 10.2 " " " 

Home Grown Seed (Scrub) " 10.0 " " " 

Selecting seed-ears from my Boone County White test-plat, I planted 
them in my contest acre the following year. I raised 13.2 barrels from that 
acre. Every ear of it passed through my hands, and the result was about 
six bushels of ears of almost show form. By elimination, I picked the 
best hundred of these, then the best fifty. Scoring this fifty carefully, I 
got the best twenty-five ears, and numbered them. 

This brings us up to the first breeding plat I ran, and forces me to 
pause in the narration of what I did and tell you why I did. it. 

A corn seed is an embryo; an egg is also an embryo. Can you Icok 
at an egg and foretell the chick? No. Neither can you look at corn 
and prophesy the progeny. "Like begets like," you say, and high-class 
ears should produce high-class ears. Perhaps. But is there anything in 
the appearance of an ear of corn that accurately indicates its power of 
profitable production? Absolutely nothing. 

All of these carefully picked ears which I had selected possessed qual- 
ity. But we want more than quality; we want quantity, for after all that 
is the thing that fills the corn crib. The twenty-five selected ears looked 
good, but would they 7nake good? I did not know; nobody could tell me; 
I had to try and see. 

So, simply said, that is what a corn-pedigree plat is, — "to try and 
see." To take grains from the best ears you can find — from the stand- 
point of external appearances — and plant them, side by side, under equal 
conditions. Then to measure the comparative yields; and use the win- 
ners for the sires and grandsires of your confields-to-come. 

With this end in view, I took a level, uniform piece of land and laid 
it off fifty hills square. This gave me fifty corn-rows of equal length and 
worth divided up into fifty equal portions. In rows Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7, etc., I 
planted assorted seed from the strongest specimens of seed- ears I could 
get. In rows Nos. 2, 4, 6, etc., I planted half of the grain from ears Nos. 
1, 2, 3, etc., respectively. When these ear-rows came into tassel the tas- 
sels were all pulled out and only the pollen from the mixed rows allowed to 
pollenize the tested or female rows. This was done to prevent inbreeding 
and consequent deterioi ation. 



225 

In the fall the male, or mixed rows, were first gotten out of the way. 
This simplified the plat to twenty-five standing lines of 150 stalks, each 
line representing the producing power of the ear whose number it bore. 
The rows were then carefully harvested and their crop weighed separately. 
The most amazing variation lay in the yields of the seed from ears Nos. 24 
and 25, growing side by side under environmental conditions as identical 
as it is possible to obtain. No. 24 gave 230 pounds of cob corn; No. 25 
gave but 72.6 pounds. At the time I hesitated in emphasizing this great 
discrepancy, thinking it might perhaps be merely a freak, but since then 
talks with authorities and a repetition of the result in another breeding 
block have convinced me that heredity does cause just such enormous 
differences in yield — even higher than 400 per cent sometimes. Here is 
a tremendous, unseen, unvarying power which, controlled, enables a man 
to double his crops and then double them again without even touching a 
plow handle. 

With these results in hand, I saved the half-ears — (known technically 
as remnants) — which had performed the best. Then from the thirteen 
acre cornfield of our home place I went to work again and carefully 
selected twenty-five other ears after the manner of the previous year. To 
add to the interest of the next year's work I took care to thoroughly exam- 
ine each ear and accurately score it. I determined the percentage of ex- 
cellence of the ear as a whole, then of the grain; and then I weighed ear 
and shelled seed for the percentage of ration of corn to cob. These three 
ratings I averaged and called the result the "average apparent excellence" 
of the ear. My motive in doing this was to try and see if any relation 
really existed between the ''average apparent excellence" of a seed-ear 
and its performance in pounds in the field. 

I planted my plat of 1913 much after the manner of that of 1912, 
excepting that, instead of unknown mixed grain, I was able to sire it with 
the leading 1912 remnants of known performance, thus obtaining a partial 
"double-pedigree" system. Here (pointing to chart) are the weighed 
results of this year's work: 

Copy of Chart Displayed in Illustration of Making Corn Make Good. 

Average Apparent Produced Pounds 

Ear Excellence Per Cent Per Stalk 

No. 1 74 .310 

" 2 81 .280 

" 3 84 .390 

" 4...: 94 .572 

" 5 86 .642 

" 6 87 .894 

" 7 89 .555 

" 8... 89 .703 

" 9 .. 91 .700 

" 10 92 .626 

" 11 94 .678 

"12 94 .593 

"13 96 .553 

"14 95 .571 

"15 93 .500 



226 

Copy of Chart Displatei> in Illustration of Making Corn Make 
Good. — Continued. 

Average Apparent Produced Pounds 

Ear Excellence Per Cent Per Stalk 

No. 16 92 .600 

"17 92 - .643 

" 18 91 .620 

" 19 89 .567 

" 20 SS .668 

"21 86 .500 

"22 86 .443 

"23 84 .724 

" 24 83 .558 

" 25* 

* Ear-Row No. 25 thrown out because of extremely poor stand. 

You will notice that, following the advice of Dean Hunt, I renum- 
bered my ears after scoring them, making my best apparent ear No. 13, 
my next best No. 15 and No. 12, and so on, the two lowest scoring ears 
being No. 1 and No. 25. This arrangement does not seem to have im- 
pressed itself much upon the rank of performance. For instance, you 
will notice that No. 24, the worst scoring ear of the bunch, outyielded No. 
13, the best. 

This time the extremes come a trifle closer together. The best. No. 
6, produced something over eight-tenths of a pound of corn and cob per 
stalk. The worst, No. 2, produced but little over two-tenths of a pound. 
Still a difference due to heredity of almost four hundred per cent. 

The result is, as you see, given in fractional, or rather decimal pounds. 
The extreme left-hand column represents tenth-pounds, the middle hun- 
dredth-pounds and the one on the right thousandth-pounds. You may 
imagine that this is splitting hairs, but remember this is per stalk, and a 
cornfield is a vast forest of such stalks. 

I figure that, presuming you wer-e to plant an acre from identical 
ears, a difference of one figure in the right-hand column means a difference 
of ten dollars' worth of corn in the resulting crop; that a difference of one 
unit in the middle column means a gain or loss of a dollar on the acre; and 
that a difference of one in the third column means ten cents, lost or gained. 

Take, for instance, ears Nos. 21 and 15. Both produced an even 
half-pound per stalk. Ear No. 16, however, which looked exactly like the 
rest, produced six-tenths of a pound. That extra tenth-pound per plant 
would mean that a man would make ten dollars an acre by planting such 
as it, rather than such as Nos. 15 and 21, or their inferiors. And if he had 
planted all such as these (pointing to No. 9 yielding .700) he would have 
gained twenty dollars per acre, and this (No. 6) would have added almost 
twenty dollars more to his crop income. 

It is perfectly possible to plant only such ears as this No. 6, and 
profit thereby. It is also perfectly possible for you to drift along as you 
are now doing, planting 24's along with j'-our 17's, just as they come, and 
losing hard, cold cash thereby. 



227 

A proper environment is only half of farming. High heredity is the 
other half. You control environment to your profit. You can likewise 
control heredity. It is no easy job. But it is a job well worth while and 
something which you will all come to sooner or later. The grab-bag method 
of selecting seed must die because it is expensive and foolish. And if you 
are wise you will start now to prepare for your cornfields of 1914, '15 and 
'16. 

[Abram Pearce was next introduced for a brief talk on "Winning the 
Corn Cup." He described his methods of securing strong seed, and the 
methods which he followed in the fertilization, cultivation, and harvesting 
of the acre of corn which produced the highest yield at the lowest cost of 
any in Baltimore County, and so won for him the silver loving cup offered 
through the Baltimore County Association of Boys' Com Clubs. 

As the President of the County Association, he was further able to 
speak interestingly of the unique system of boys' club work, carried on 
entirely by the boys themselves, and through which the Agricultural 
High School has been able to make its influence strongly felt at points far 
removed from the Sparks community. Prolonged applause marked the 
close of his talk.] 

Russell R. Lord: Now comes the demonstrational work. In ex- 
periments of his kind, about a million things can happen that you never 
expected to happen. Perhaps some of these things have already hap- 
pened, and if some of the stunts don't quite work out, we hope that you 
will laugh with us and proceed happily on to the next. However, every- 
thing looks all right and we are ready to start it off. Lee Parry will tell 
you some things you don't know about a generation of corn while Pearce 
and I Tvdll work the demonstrational end. This is Lee Parry. 

Lee Parry: As you have already heard, the ordinary generation 
of corn starts with the planting of the seed in the spring. A successful 
generation, however, should start several seasons back of that in careful 
selection and painstaking upbuilding of a good strain of seed of a variety 
ideally adapted to the personal need and environment. Assuming that 
this has been done — which is quite a bit easier than doing it — let us say 
that we now have a bunch of ears of perfect pedigree from which we desire 
to select the most promising individuals for perpetuation. I have here [indi- 
cating a display of about a bushel of ears of all types and sizes] a bunch of 
average Boone County ^Tiite ears picked haphazard from a corn-crib. 
WTiich is the best? Which is the worst? Why? To answer these ques- 
tions we must have a definite and concise idea of what an ideal ear of White 
Dent com looks like. While I am describing this ideal ear, the other boys 
will judge this bunch of ears and pick out the best. 

A good ear of com should be of goodly length, cylindrical in profile, 
well rounded at butt and tip and tapering gently throughout its length. 



228 

The circumference of the ear should be at least 75 per cent of its length and 
the depth of its grain at least half the diameter of its cob. Shelled, the 
grain should occupy as much space as did the ear before being shelled. 
Furthermore, the ear should be unmixed in grain and generally true to 
variety and type characteristics. It must look like an aristocrat to the 
eye trained to judge. These points are rather sketchy, but they should 
give some sort of mental picture of the real thing and enable you to judge 
whether or not the boys have picked the right one. Which is best, fellows? 

[Best ear displayed and points briefly enumerated.] 

This selection of seed-ears, to have been ideal, would have taken place 
in the early fall. The next thing is to store it safely away from vermin and 
extremes of heat and cold. Corn stored in corn-cribs usually retains some 
moisture up to the time of the first sharp freezes. These, alternating with 
early thaws, effectually kill the germ of the seed and render it useless for 
perpetuation. The best way to store a small amount of seed corn is to 
string it up and hang it away in some place protected from extremes of 
temperature and the best way we know of stringing it up is the way Pearce 
and Lord are now illustrating. 

[Brief demonstration of stringing corn by the double-string, inter- 
lacing system.] 

Let's now imagine the winter past and the sun shining on the plowed 
fields. It's almost corn-planting time, but before that there is just one 
more little trick which may add dollars to the farmer's pocketbook and 
subtract days of hot, tiresome replanting. 

This little affair [indicating germination box in various stages of devel- 
opment] can be knocked together on any farm in ten minutes. Simply 
make a shallow pan-like box, fill it with clean sand or sawdust, divide it 
into squares with strings and you are ready for your test planting. You 
can see from the way the boys are now doing it, that it is no hard task. 
Number the ears under test, then take from each ear six grains — two from 
the tip, two from the middle and two from the butt. Plant them in the 
moist compartment corresponding to their number. In a few days they 
will sprout, — that is, some of them will. Discard all ears which, from the 
six sample grains, do not throw out at least five strong shoots. Here 
[indicating rag-doll tester] is an even simpler, but less satisfactory, arrange- 
ment. By distributing these among the rural school children of the mid- 
dle West it is claimed that millions of dollars have been added to the value 
of the crop. It is also claimed, by way of impressing the necessity of 
planting virile seed, that for every dead ear planted the farmer loses four 
dollars. 

You can see from this young corn plant [taking one from the box 
for examination] that the stems and the roots grow differently. These 
red-ink divisions were put on at equal distances. Now, a few days later, 
you can see that while those on the roots are at the same distance, the 
others have stretched apart with the growth of the stems. 



229 

Being ready to plant our crop, let us turn for a moment to soils in 
general and corn soils in particular. Soil is not just dirt. It is a wonder- 
fully interesting, wonderfully diversified, wonderfully vital thing. And let 
me tell you right now, it takes just as much brains to handle a soil properly 
as it does to handle an office full of men. 

[Displaying a home-made outfit consisting of three lamp chimneys, 
filled with sand, silt and clay, and their ends immersed in a pan of water. 
It can be seen that the water has climbed highest in the clay, and lowest 
in the sand.] 

This shows the absorbent capacity of different soils. Water is the 
main factor in the environmental success or failure of a crop of corn. 
You can see that a sandy soil is liable to prove deficient in this necessity. 
Generally speaking, therefore, a clay loam is best for corn. The reason 
the water has climbed higher in the clay than in the sand is because of 
the smaller pore space. Here [displaying a set-up apparatus consisting 
simply of two plates of window-glass touching at one end and divided by 
a broom straw at the other] is a simple affair which shows the thing at 
a glance. Here where the glasses practically touch, the water has crept up 
all the way to the top. Here where they are divided about a thirty- 
second of an inch by this broom straw you will see scarcely any rise. 
The tapering line as the space increases indicates that the capillary capac- 
ity of a soil is directly proportional to its pore space. 

That experiment is to show how different soils take up water. Here 
is another to show how they retain it. [Displaying home-made rack hold- 
ing four lamp chimneys containing sand, sand and manure, clay, clay and 
manure. Under the bottom of the suspended chimneys are glasses. Water 
is poured in at the top and allowed to seep through and gather in the 
glasses.] 

You will notice that the most leachy soil is the sand. Next comes 
the sand and manure, third the clay and manure, and lastly, the clay. 
This illustrates well the curious fact that manure applied to a sandy soil 
makes it more porous and to a clay soil, less porous. In this capacity of 
regulating the water supply of soils of different texture, manure finds a 
function almost as important as its fertilizing power. 

These next two experiments serve to show how the corn plant draws 
in its nourishment through the roots. All that is taken in must be in 
solution. When two liquids are separated by a membrane, the less dense 
will pass more rapidly through the membrane. Minute membranes^ are 
at the point of every root and the soil water is drawn through them by 
force of the stronger sap solution within the plant. The technical name 
for this process is ''osmosis." You will notice that here [indicating in- 
verted tube partially filled with red liquid and separated from white solu- 
tion by parchment] the salt solutions within the thistle tube has drawn the 
thinner liquid through the membrane and raised its level. Again, see how 
flabby is this piece of potato and how crisp this one is. One was immersed 
in salt solution thicker than its own sap; the other in pure water. 



230 

Difficulty of transportation makes this the next to last of our experi- 
ments and lack of time forces us to take leave of our subject. But you 
must not think that I have told you half of the interesting things about the 
most interesting American crop. Do you know what corn silks and tassels 
are for? Do you know anything of the minute structure of the maize ker- 
nel? Do you know how and why the corn leaves roll up on a parching hot 
day? Do you even know why it is that when you plant white com, white 
corn comes up and when you plant yellow, up comes yellow? If you know 
the answer to this last question and can expound it satisfactorily, do so, for 
nobody knows at present. There is a lot to be learned concerning corn. 
There is a lot to be learned, for that matter, about everything rural. And 
that's what makes country life worth while. 

And here's the last simple experiment. It illustrates why the farmer 
"works" his crops. Take a plain lump of sugar, as I do, sprinkle its top 
loosely with pulverized sugar and dip it thus in ink. You see how quickly 
the ink rushes up to the top of the compact lump and how quickly it stops, 
and stays stopped, when it meets the loosely piled mulch of pulverized 
sugar. That top layer stops up the pores, and keeps the soil water from 
evaporating away. This, not to kill the weeds, is the first reason why 
farmers take the trouble to "work" their crop four or five times durmg 
the season. 

To those of you who have been interested in this little show of ours, 
we extend invitation to visit the Agricultural High School at Sparks, 
Maryland, at any time, and you will see some real experiments. And 
you will see many other interesting things. Even the students find it inter- 
esting. 

I thank you for your interested attention. 

[Experimental portion of demonstration and corn breeding talk was 
repeated at the Philadelphia Bourse before the members of the Grain 
Exchange.] 

Mrs. Smith: We are all interested in successful farming and I will 
now introduce to you Mr. Honeycutt, of Illinois, who is going to speak to 
us this evening on this subject from a business standpoint. 



SUCCESSFUL FARMING. 



By John P. Honeycutt, 

Farmer, Amboy, Lee County, 111. 

I have been requested to discuss a subject which to me appears to 
be of great importance to the average individual of the present and future 
generations. Successful operation of any permanent or enduring enter- 
prise depends wholly upon the average net dividends from the labor and 
expenses of conducting the business. 

How to make the farm an asset instead of a liability is a problem 
that is engaging the attention of a great -many people just now. In fact 
it is causing some people to worry, and in occasional instances individuals 
stand up and point the finger of scorn at an individual milk distributor, 
produce dealer, banker, railroad man or farmer, and say, "Thou art the 
man who is getting the money," and immediately there is confusion, if 
nothing more unseemly. 

Once in a great while it is necessary to fight, but earnest, careful, di- 
rected work and a pleasant smile are always in order. Let us smile and 
work. Personally I am glad that I am alive, and I have great confidence 
in future prosperity, and I say to you that so long as I am alive I am not 
licked. The conditions which are causing so much complaint are the 
result of methods, some of which were never correct, from the very be- 
gimiing, and others have been outgrown. With all we have progressed 
and prospered. We may draw a long face and cuss the government, and 
all our commercial organizations, but I am going on record by asserting 
the United States of America has the best form of government and is the 
best governed country on the face of the earth today. We make mistakes, 
but we have sense enough to correct them without wrecking the foundation. 
I am a farmer and consider it an honor to be a worker in this most an- 
cient occupation, and I believe there is a prosperous future for the busi- 
ness farmer. 

The story of the beginning of the industry called farming interested 
me exceedingly. I read it in a book that is generally conceded to be good 
authority. I confess it has been quite a long time since I read the narra- 
tive but as I now recall it, two of our excellent most ancient ancestors 
made a total failure of trying to live a life of leisure, surrounded by every 
possible luxury. They toiled not, neither did they sweat. No matter 
what the reason, they failed, and suddenly found themselves thrown 
"back to the land," with positive injunction to make farming a paying 
business, with the assurance that if they worked hard, they would be 
• (231) 



232 

able to enjoy life, and lay by something for the children. Farm bulletin 
No. 1 was brief; it said, "Thou shalt eat bread by the sweat of thy brow." 
This sweating talk evidently did not appeal to the folks as being in any 
way a reasonable proposition, and from that time until very recently, 
most people have been leaving the old homestead, thereby eliminating the 
perspiration method. 

This side-stepping and evasion of the great work of production has 
been so persistent that the sons and daughters of Adam have gotten so 
far from the commissary wagon that there is a cry of distress coming 
from the cities, where men and women have gathered around the pretty, 
bright lights, and "multiplied all right," but have failed to make pro- 
vision for replenishing the earth. Consumers have increased faster than 
producers. . 

I congratulate our commercial men who left the farm to build cities, 
factories and railroads, upon the excellence of their achievements. I. 
look with wonder and amazement upon our great commercial industries.' 
It has been the work of giants, and never could have been accomplished 
without almost perfect organization and system. It is the wonderful 
work of men, who, qualified for their task, that has drawn a surplus of 
workers to the great manufacturing centers. In fact you have drafted 
a surplus. There are more workers today in the great cities than can find' 
employment. 

We all know the value of efficiency. Without accurate practical 
knowledge of the work to be undertaken, there is no hope of successful 
results. As late as twenty-five years ago there was hardly a factory or 
enterprise of any kind that could tell within a city block of the actual cost 
of manufacturing an article. Today there is not one worthy the name of 
enterprise that cannot estimate the exact cost, and their selling price is 
made accordingly. 

While the vast army of workers have been qualifying for labor in 
other departments, they have been really disqualifying for the great work 
of actual production. For more than twenty years I had an opportunity 
to observe these points while engaged in commercial business in one of 
the greatest cities in the world. Experience and observation taught me 
that for the best interests of this wonderfully great country of ours, more 
men must engage in the business of farming, and that it would be profit- 
able for me. Do j^ou get that? Business of farming does not mean the 
purchase of a piece of land, renting it to someone else, and then trying to 
tell that person how to do something which you do not understand your- 
self. It does mean that if you intend to make a success of farming, you 
must understand the branch of farming you undertake. Find out in 
advance the crop you are to produce, and know before you produce it 
where you are to sell, and how you are to deliver it to your purchaser 
after it has been produced. It costs real money to buy seed, test seed, 
prepare th"^ seed bed, and to plant the aforesaid seed. As soon as this 



233 

same seed is planted it costs some more real money to cultivate and care 
for the growing crop until it is ready to harvest, then more real coin to 
gather and transport the crop to the railroad station and load it into the 
car. You may not have thought of it, but the railroads require you to 
pay them some more of the medium of exchange to carry your product 
to their freight house in the city. You have invested a considerable sum 
of money in land and farming implements prior to seeding time, and you 
are still the owner of a perfectly good crop of something which the non-pro- 
ducing consumer must eventually consume. 

Your crop is now in the city and under the conditions which prevail 
today you have the choice of seeking a buyer and after making a bargain 
mutually agreeable, well scarcely, but after agreeing to accept the price 
he offers, you can deliver the goods to him and apply the proceeds, or 
you have the alternative of disposing of the crop at the freight house to a 
commission man or distributor, who is prepared and equipped to deliver it 
to the consumer. You receive from the commission man or distributor 
the "market." The consumer now may deal with the interests which 
have a "system" for holding and delivering economically. Here is a 
place in this narrative for you to smile if you are a producer, and think. 
Think hard, get in touch with other producers and devise ways and means. 
There is a way. We need the railroads, and every other large industry. 
We need more railroads and more big industries. We need distributors, 
but farmers must have a system. Think out a system. Talk it over with 
everyone who is interested. It will take a long time to remedy these 
things, but we can do it, don't back doAvn. Farmers are the salt of the 
earth, the foundation and support of every enterprise of whatever name or 
nature. Get busy and form local organizations, and work systematically. 
There is no reason to be discouraged. Call on your boys for assistance 
in the work of organizing and systematizing your work on the farm. 
Send them to the Agricultural Schools, where they will learn how to think 
and plan. Many of your methods are obsolete, and while your experience 
is of great value, yet the boy, with his enthusiasm and strength of youth, 
will be able to suggest and assist in carrying out a new and more effective 
method, when he returns from school. Put the government bulletins and 
experiment station work in his hands. We have found them of great value 
in our work on Green River Stock Farm. 

Farmers have, ever since I can remember, been pleased to call them- 
selves "Independent Farmers," then smite their thigh and look wise. 
Independent means standing alone, and that is just the reason you are 
getting pushed and jostled and despoiled today. Other men recognize 
the value of organized systematic work, hence we have the Board of Trade, 
Wholesale Dealers' Association, Retail Dealers' Association, Produce 
Exchange, Bankers' Associations. Every craft worthy the name has an 
organization which is affiliated with a National Organization, and here 
are the grand old farmers still plodding along and bearing the burden alone. 



234 

Cheer up, fellows, get into something. There are several depart- 
ments of producers who have been organized after a fashion for a long 
time. Join with them, then adopt the best method for increasing your 
production, and work to solve the marketing problem. 

Mks. Smith: Be on the lookout for articles by Mr. Honeycutt in 
the Country Gentleman. That is where we were introduced to Mr. Honey- 
cutt. 

Let me introduce to you Mr. Gifford Pinchot, who is with us and will 
speak to us on Agricultural Co-operation. 



AGRICULTURAL CO-OPERATION. 



By the Hon. Gifford Pinchot, 
Milford, Penna. 



I think it would be hard to find anywhere deeper interest in country 
fife than you have shown in this conference. 

As I read history it was not the decadence of the city that destroyed 
Rome. It was the gradual sinking of life in the open country, together 
with the existing slave system of those days. Gradually, the man who 
worked on the land came to be ranked as a piece of agricultural machin- 
ery, and as his status dropped it took with it the sterling qualities of vigor 
from the town, because all of us know that much of the best blood of the 
city comes in a continual stream from out of the country. 

This co-operative movement rests on a new conception as to what 
life on the farm means. For years and years we prided ourselves because 
we did more for the farmers, and did it more effectively, than any other 
nation in the world, and it was true in a sense. Through our Agricultural 
Department in Washington, our Agricultural Departments in the States, 
our Experiment Stations, and Agricultural Colleges, we were spending 
money more rapidly than any other nation in the world, and all this 
almost wholly to help the farmer to grow better crops. We have been deal- 
ing with the farmer and the farmer's wife as men and women whose sole 
function was to produce food for others to eat, and incidentally getting 
enough food for their own needs. But we are learning slowly that it is 
just as important to help him get the best possible returns for the crops 
he grows, and to utilize those returns so as to make them yield him the 
best and happiest life. The problem is not merely to get better crops, not 
merely to dispose of crops better, but in the last analysis to have happier 
and richer lives of men and women on the farm. 

There are certain things I would like to call to your attention about 
the condition of farming in the United States and the tendencies which 
mark it just now. During the last census period, 1900-1910, the popula- 
tion of the United States increased 21 per cent, but the food production 
increased only 10 per cent. In other words, we were adding people to 
our population twice as fast as we were adding food to our food supply, 
and it was no wonder the cost of food rose. What a farmer was getting 
$1.00 for in 1900, he got $1.67 in 1910. The average price of farm prod- 
ucts had risen in ten years 67 per cent. Yet, taking the farming 
population by and large, in spite of this marvelous increase in what he 
got for his crops, the farmer has not been nearly as prosperous in the last 

(235) 



236 

ten years as he ought to have been, and he is not now. Why? One reason 
is that out of every dollar the consumer spends for farm products the 
farmer gets less than fifty cents. Where does the other fifty cents go? 
It goes to the railroads and the middlemen, and to the legitimate cost 
of distribution. Now if it is true that the best the present system of dis- 
tribution can do is to double the cost of the farmer's products to the con- 
sumer, then it is certainly a very inefficient system. If it costs as much 
to get a pound of butter to the consumer as it does to make it, then it is a 
bad system and no mistake. We in the United States are just awakening 
to a real appreciation of the benefits of co-operation in agriculture. 

Farmers in Ireland, Denmark, Holland and Belgium have had their 
hard times when the industry was in such a condition that man could 
hardly live off of it. In Ireland there were whole counties in which the 
average cash income of a farmer's family was only $25.00 a year. It 
sounds incredible, but it is true. Then a man came back to Ireland from 
Wyoming, where he had been a cow-puncher — I mean Sir Horace Plun- 
kett — and he said to the Irish farmer, "I know what is the matter with 
you, you are unorganized, and everywhere in the world it is the unorgan- 
ized man that pays the bill." Then in little Ireland they began to organize. 
Ireland is a very small country, yet already 100,000 farmers are organized 
there. Their co-operative societies do an annual business of $16,000,000 
to $17,000,000, and they have completely changed the whole face of agri- 
cultural Ireland. 

The city is organized, the railroads are organized, the interest to 
which the farmer sells his product, and the interests from which he buys 
the things he needs are all organized. The farmer is the one great class 
in the United States today that remains unorganized. There has been a 
good deal of work done in this matter of farm organization in this country, 
and while I am not urging any farmers to rush into organization, I do 
believe that when the pinch comes, as come it must, agricultural organi- 
zation is the way out. It has failed in individual cases all over this country, 
partly because the farmers have not realized that it takes just as good a 
business man to run the business of co-operative organization as it does 
to run any other; partly because they have allowed other men to organ- 
ize them, and the organization was directed mainly toward the welfare 
of someone else. It has not been driven into the farmer's mind yet with 
sufficient clearness that co-operation in the real sense does not mean a 
joint stock enterprise where the voting power goes with the stock, but it 
does mean an enterprise where every man has the same voting power 
irrespective of the amount of his stock. In other words, an organization 
to be successful must be controlled by men, not by money. Organization 
is a powerful weapon, but like any other powerful weapon it is dangerous 
as well as powerful, and unless it is rightly used it will do no good. But 
the time is coming when in this country, as almost everywhere in Europe, 
farmers will attend to their own matters of credit, to their own matters 



237 

of production, shipment of their product, and its disposition, so that in 
the end we shall have the farmer, through his organization, deaUng much 
more directly with the consumer than he does now. It will put a lot of 
the middlemen out of business, and I think that will be a good thing. 
Some think that agricultural co-operation will have an injurious effect 
on the country towns. I believe that whatever makes the farmers more 
prosperous will make the country town that supplies the farmer's needs 
more prosperous. In my mind, the cure for much that the farmer suffers 
because he is not organized, because he does not get a fair share of what 
he produces, is agricultural co-operation properly applied. 

The attention of the nation has been fixed on better business, better 
methods of work, better living conditions in the towns. We are beginning 
to understand that better living is just as important on the farm, and that 
we must recognize the farmer and his wife as a most useful part of our 
population. We shall then have a greater appreciation of what this meet- 
ing means, for I think we can all put it down as an absolute fact that no 
matter how useful a man may be in town, the most useful citizen of any 
republic is now, and must always continue to be, the man who owns and 
tills the soil from which he makes his living. 



THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTORS IN SUCCESSFUL FARM- 
ING, IN RELATION TO DOLLARS AND CENTS. 



By G. F. Warren, 
Professor of Farm Management, Cornell University, N. Y. 



During the past six years we have been securing records from farmers 
in New York State of their capital and business receipts and expenses in 
order to find out how much farmers are making and how it is that some 
men are making more than others. During this time we have obtained 
records of 2917 farms. 

From seven years' study of this question we have determined the rela- 
tive importance of different factors on profits. 

Labor Income Defined. 
In order to understand this discussion, it will be necessary to know 
what is meant by labor income. By this we mean the amount of money 
that the farmer has made in addition to interest on his capital. It corre- 
sponds to a hired man's wages when the hired man receives a house and 
some farm products. 

Table 1 shows the averages for Tompkins County.* The average 
capital on these farms was S5527. This includes land, buildings, stock, 
machinery, tools, feed and seed on April 1st -and cash to run the farm. 
The average receipts for the year were $1146. Any unsold products or 
increase in animals is counted as a receipt. The average expenses were 
$389. This includes all business or farm expenses. It does not include 
any personal expenses, but includes the value of board furnished to hired 
help. 

Table 1. — Averages, Tompkins County. 

Number of farms 615 

Average capital ' $5,527 

Average receipts 1,146 

Average business expenses 389 

Receipts less expenses 757 

Interest at 5 per cent 276 

Income frota unpaid labor 481 

Value of unpaid labor except owner's 58 

Labor income 423 

The difference between the receipts and expenses averaged $757. 

* For a fuller discussion of methods of work and other conclusiona, see Bulletin 295 of the Cornell 
Experiment Station. 

The purpose of this work is not to compare farming with city work, but to study the relation of 
various factors to profits in farming. The hired man and the farmer get many farm products from the 
farm. These and very many other factors must be considered in order to compare farming with city 
work. Labor income is an excellent means of measuring the success of a farmer as it is directly com- 
parable with hired man's wages when the man gets a house and farm products. 

(238) 



239 

This $757 was earned by the farmer's money and the work of the 
family. Money can readily be loaned on farm mortgages at 5 per cent. 
Hence, only $481 can be said to have been earned by the labor of the farmer 
and his family. The unpaid farm labor by members of the family would 
have cost about $58 if it had been hired. The farmer really earned as his 
wages, $423. This we call his labor income. Hired men in this region 
get about $360, house rent, and some farm products. If a farmer's labor 
income is less than this, he might as well lend his money and hire out. 

About one-third of the farmers in Tompkins County are making 
less than hired men's wages; one-third are making wages; and one-third 
make more than wages. 

Table 2 shows the same results for Livingston County. The region 
is a very prosperous one and gives an average labor income of 



Table 2. — ^Averages, Livingston County. 

Number of farms 574 

Average capital $10,548 

Average receipts 2,172 

Average business expenses 980 

Receipts less expenses 1,192 

Interest at 5 per cent 527 

Income from unpaid labor 665 

Value of unpaid labor except owner's 81 

Labor income 584 

Most Important Factors Affecting Profits. 

The four most important factors affecting profits have been found 
to be size of business, crop yields, production per cow or other important 
kind of animals, and diversity of the business. So strikingly do these four 
factors stand out that if we know them we can guess the labor income 
with approximate accuracy in about 95 per cent of the cases. Only in a 
few cases do practical farmers make other mistakes of so serious a nature 
as to prevent them from getting a good labor income when these fcTur 
factors are favorable. 

Farms Not Balanced. — Farmers are like other people, they have hob- 
bies. There is practically no relationship between good cows and good 
crops or between size of the farm and production of crops or cows. We 
find that the farmers who have the best cows average very little above their 
neighbors in crop yields. Because the crops are good gives no indication 
of whether the cows are good or bad. On the average, there is practically 
no relation between the size of the farm and quality of the crops or cows. 
As a result we have all kinds of combinations of the factors of profits. 
There are very few farms that rank well in each of the four respects. 

Size of Business. 
Ways of Measuring Size. — There are many ways in which the size 
of the business may be measured. Farms may be compared on number of 



240 



days of work done, number of men kept, amount of capital invested, num- 
ber of cows or other animals kept, number of work animals, number of 
acres of land, or acres of crops grown. So long as we are dealing with fairly 
uniform conditions, each of these comparisons will give about the same 
results, as an average of large numbers. But when a particular farm is 
considered, it may be placed in a different class when the method of sorting 
is changed. 

Relation of Capital to Profits. — Tables 3, 4, 5 and 6 show the relation 
of capital to profits. The farmers in either of these counties who do not 
have a capital of at least $5000, are not doing as well as hired men. In 
Tompkins County over one-third of the farmers had less than $4000 
capital, but not one of these made a labor income of $1000. About two- 
fifths of the men with $10,000 capital made over $1000 labor income. 
The figures for all the other regions show the same results. 

Table 3. — Relation op Capital to Profits. 
615 farms operated by owners, Tompkins Comity, New York. 

Nunaber of Average 

Capital. farms. labor income. 

$2,000 or less 36 $192 

2,001- 4,000 ... .... .'..'. 200 : 240 

4,001- 6,000 ........ . ... 183. 399 

6,001-8,000 94 530 

8,001-10,000 45 639 

10,001-15,000 44 870 

Over 15,000 13 . 1,164 

Table 4. — Relation of Capital to Profits: 

615 farms operated by owners. Per cent of the 

farmers making 

Number of labor incomes 

Capital. . farmers. of over .f 1000. 

$2,000 or less 36 

2,001- 4,000 .200 

4,001- 6,000 183 8 

6,001- 8,000 ' . . . 94 14 

8,001-10,000 45 ^ 22 

10,001-15,000 44 ' 32 

Over 15,000 13 46 

Table 5. — Capital Relatitd to Labor Income. 
578 farms. Northern Livingston County, New York. 

Number of Average 

Capital. farms. labor income. 

$5,000 or less 87 $291 

5,001-7,500 80 407 

7,501-10,000 112 480 

10,001-15,000 164 769 

15,001-20,000 62 1,001 

20,001-30,000. 55 1,062 

Over 30,000 18 1,691 



241 

Table 6. — Relation op Capital to Profits. 

578 farms, Northern Livingston County, New York. 

Per cent of the 
farmers making 
labor incomes 
Capital. of over $1000. 

$5,000 or less 7 

5,001- 7,500 11 

7,501-10,000 16 

10,001-15,000 .33 

15,001-20,000 46 

20,001-30,000 51 

Over 30,000 50 

Relation of A^nount of Labor Employed to Profits. — If we measure size 
3f business by number of men or total value of labor directed, we find the 
same comparisons. Those farmers who do not direct at least one man 
resides themselves do not, on the average, earn much more than farm 
ivages. Table 7 gives such a comparison for Tompkins County, New York, 
rhe total value of labor directed includes the farmer's labor estimated at 
P26 for the year, this being the average price that farmers estimated it 
A^ould cost to hire the labor done. If the total labor directed does not equal 
ibout $650 to $700, the farm does not employ one man for full time besides 
:.he farmer. 

Table 7. — Relation of Labor to Profits. 

Value of 
total labor Labor income. 

$347 $288 

426 332 

557 432 

730 534 

960 721 

1,307 1,194 

Relation of Size of Farm to Profits. — A better measure of size of busi- 
less is the acres farmed or better still the acres of crops grown. Tables 
^ and 9 give such comparisons for general farming where hay, grain, pota- 
toes, cabbage, apples are the usual crops and where a considerable propor- 
tion of the persons keep dairy cows. 

Table 8. — Size of Farm Related to Profits. 
586 farms, Tompkins County, New York. 

Number of Average size Average tillable Labor 
Acres. farms. (acres). area (acres). income. 

30 or less 30 21 18 $168 

31-60 108 49 38 254 

61-100 214 83 60 373 

101-150 143 124 88 436 

151-200 57 177 117 635 

3ver.200 34 261 160 946 

Average s 103 $415 



242 

Table 9. — Size of Farm Related to Profits. 
578 farms, Livingston County, New York. 

Number of Average size Tillable area Labor 

Acres farmed. farms. (acres). (acres). income. 

30 or less 17 20 17 $54 

31-50 35 43 -37 295 

51-100 147 79 64 437 

101-150 178 127 104 593 

151-200. 89 175 142 934 

Over 200 112 305 241 1,082 

In these regions the average farmer with less than 50 acres would 
make more money if he sold his farm, loaned his money and hired out as a 
farm laborer, or better yet, be a tenant on a larger farm, or many of them 
might better go in debt for a large farm and own it. 

Comparatively few farmers with less than 100 acres made very good 
profits. Of the 551 farmers who farmed 100 acres or less, only six made 
labor incomes of $1500. But of 292 farmers who farmed over 150 acres, 
60 made over $1500. 

Relation of Acres of Crops to Profits. — A still better way of measuring 
size is to compare the area of crops grown. This includes all harvested 
crops but does not include pasture. Table 10 gives such a comparison. 

Table 10. — Relation of Acres of Crops to Labor Income. 

Average Number cf 
Acres of crops. acres crops farm. Labor income. 

20 or less 14 18 $24 

21-40 31 55 257 

41-60 51 95 400 

61-80 69 115 481 

81-100 90 96 642 

101-140 118 112 937 

Over 140 193 88 1,261 

Most of the economics in production are dependent on the area of 
crops grown. Five horses can raise 100 to 125 acres of general farm crops 
when the crops consist of a good combination of grain, hay and potatoes, 
apples or cabbage. If the crops are of the above kinds, there should be at 
least 20 acres per horse, but if they are hay and grain, there should be at 
least 30 acres per horse. In the eastern states, the cost of horse labor per 
acre is more than the interest on the land. While five horses can raise 
125 acres of crops, it is difficult to raise 50 acres of crops with two horses. 
Farm machinery is built on the 2, 3 and 4-horse basis. Evidently if one 
has less than 80 acres of crops, he must go without good machinery or must 
keep too many horses. There is no solution of the problem for him. 

Machinery, horses and labor cannot be used efficiently with less than 
80 to 100 acres of crops, 200 acres is still better. The various reasons 
for this have been published elsewhere. In this discussion, it is sufficient 
to see that size of business is very important and that crop acres is one of 
the best measures of size. 



243 

The time spent in growing even an average crop in reasonable areas 
pays the highest wages of any farm work. If a farmer has a large area of 
crops, it not only indicates a good sized business, but indicates that the 
farmer is doing a large amount of work that pays well. 

Crop Yields. 
Increased yield per acre is important but not nearly so important as is 
usually assumed. Table 11 shows the relation of yield to labor income, 
when 100 per cent represents the average yield of the region. 

Table 11. — Relation op Crop Yields to Labor Income. 
574 farms. 

Percentage Average Number of Labor 

yield. percentage farms. income. 

75 or less 67 .58 $165 

76-85 81 60 219 

86-95 90 102 663 

96-105 101 116 570 

106-115 110 103 878 

116-125. ; 120 66 951 

Over 125 138 69 1,090 

An increased yield per acre makes the business larger and if not carried 
too far is a good thing. After one secures yields of perhaps a fifth better 
than the neighbors on the same soil, he must be careful that his cost per 
bushel for the increased crop is not more than the crop is worth. If the 
neighbors on the same soil get one and a half tons of hay per acre, it may 
pay to grow two tons. If under these conditions one wishes three tons, it 
can usually be grown at less cost per ton on two acres than on one acre. 
This is the reason why the acres of crops have more influence on profits 
than does the yield per acre. 

Production Per Cow. 

All dairy products are produced on a very close margin of profit. 

It is very easy to feed cows so as to lose all that one has made by raising 

crops. Table 12 shows the relation of receipts per cow to profits. Those 

farmers who get over $75 per cow are the only ones who are making good 

labor incomes. In this case, $75 per cow indicates about 6000 pounds of 

milk. 

Table 12. — -Receiits per Cow Related to Profits, Tompkins County, 

New York. 

Number cf 
Receipts per cow. farms. Labor income. 

$30 or less 18 $30 

31-50 97 316 

51-75 106 483 

76-100 53 715 

Over 100 33 1,325 

It will be seen that farmers who get average crops are often doing 
very well but that it takes much better than average cows to pay. 



244 

Diversity. 

If a farmer raises nothing but crops, he usually wastes considerable 
material that could be used to a profit to feed animals. He is also likely 
to find it more difficult to keep men and horses busy all the year. 

If he raises animals only, he spends all his time on the farm enter- 
prise that is less likely to pay good wages. He does not get so much for 
his manure because a heavy application on one acre does not usually bring 
as good returns per ton as if spread on two acres. Nor is he so likely to 
keep horses and men fully employed. To care for a dozen cows is about 
half work for a man. A man will do this and raise the cows' feed and cash 
crops to sell besides. Table 13 shows such a comparison. The farmers who 
combine cash crops and stock make more than those who go to either 
extreme. 

Table 13. — Diversified Farming Related to Profits on Farms Selling Whole- 
sale Market Milk, Livingston County, New York. 

Per cent of re- Number of Average Labor 

ceipts from crops. farms. area. income. 

15 or less 14 209 $769 

16-30 28 218 1,210 

31-50 25 264 1,284 

Over 50 10 174 1,225 

Comparative Importance of Size, Crop Yields and Production 

Per Cow. 
Table 14 shows that crop yields are less important than size of farm 
or production per cow. The combination of good cows and a large farm 
gives a better chance than good crops and good cows. The same point is 
shown by comparing Tables 11 and 12. 

Table 14. — Jefferson County. Per cent 

making over 
$1000 
Labor income, labor income. 

All farms, 670 S609 22 

97 farms, best crops (132 per cent) 684 24 

97 farms, best cows ($84-h) 968 41 

97 farms, largest (224A+) 898 43 

23 best crops and cows 994 39 

11 best cows and size 1,294 73 

best crops, cows and size 

Balanced Farms. 

As has been previously stated, there seems to be little relation between 
any of these factors. If a farmer is good in one respect, it does not tell 
anything about the other points. 

Evidently a farmer who is as good as the average in every particular 
is a very far from an average man. He is a very unusual man. In Jeff ef- 
son County, out of 670 farmers only 32 were as good as the average in each 



245 

of the four respects. The average labor income of this region was 
but the farmers who were as good as the average in size (143 acres or more), 
crop yields, receipts per cow ($59 or more) and in diversity (20 per cent 
or more from crops) made an average of $1491 and only 6 of them failed 
to make as much as $1000. 

As a standard for dairy farms, we may take the average of all farmers 
in three regions who sold market milk and who made labor incomes of $2000 
or more. Table 15 gives these averages. 

Table 15. — Averages. 23 Farms Selling Wholesale Market Milk. 

Three counties. 

Acres 257 

Crop acres 154 

Crop index 119 

Receipts per cow (32 cows) $98 

Milk sold 7,000 lbs. 

Per cent of receipts from crops 34 

Labor income $2,658 

Our records give similar comparisons for other types of farming. But 
the principles of size and production hold on the truck farms and crop 
farms as well as on dairy farms. 

Individual Farms. 
It is evident that we can give a very close estimate of labor income if 
we know the above four factors. The following examples are from Jefferson 
County : 

Farm 1. 
Crop acres, 29; very poor. 
Crop index, 208; excellent. 
Receipts per cow (11 cows), $116; excellent. 
Per cent of receipts from crops, 21 ; excellent. 
Labor income, $980. 

This is the best record for so small an area. It represents the top 
notch in the "little farm well tilled." Splendid crops, splendid cows, 
even on the small area, crops to sell and all work done by the farmer him- 
self with two months of hired labor. Such a farmer as this should be able 
to make $3000 labor income if he rented land on which to grow 100 acres 
more crops, doubled his cows and kept two men by the year. With this 
system he would not have to work so hard. 

Farm 2. 

Crop acres, 21; very poor. 

Crop index, 211; excellent. (Hay 3.3 T., silage 13 T.) 

Receipts per cow (8 cows), $90; excellent. 

Per cent of receipts from crops, 22; excellent. 

Hired labor, $250; poor for the size. 

Labor income, $380. 

This farmer kept poorer cows and hired one man although he had so 
little work to do. For these reasons, he made less than Farm No. 1. 



246 

Farm 3. 
Crop acres, 133; good. 

Crop index, 75; poor. (Hay 1.1 T., oats 25 bu.) 
Receipts per cow (20 cows), $95; excellent. 
Per cent of receipts from crops, 16; fair. 
Labor income, $1,661. 

This farmer gets crops only three-fourths as good as his neighbors', 
but with the large area he should make a good profit from growing them. 
He sells part, and what he feeds to cows he makes a second profit on because 
he gets such good returns per cow. 

We should expect him to do very well indeed. His crops are only 
one-third as good as Numbers 1 and 2, but the larger area more than makes 
up. If the soil is as good as his neighbors', he might readily bring his labor 
income to $2000 by raising better crops. 

Farm 4. 
Crop acres, 110; excellent. 
Crop index, 142; excellent. 
Receipts per cow, $96; excellent. 
Per cent of receipts from crops, 19; excellent. 
Labor income, $2,239. 

This farm is excellent in every particular. We should expect it to 
make at least $2000, as it does. About the only difference from Number 3 
is in crop yield. 

Farm 5. 
Crop acres, 109; excellent. 
Crop index, 120; excellent. 
Receipts per cow (32 cows), $56; poor. 
Per cent of receipts from crops, 4; poor. 
Labor income, minus $113. 

This farmer made very good profit on his crops of which he had a good 
acreage. But he fed these crops to cows that did not pay their feed bill. 
If he had excellent cows, his labor income would be $1500, but as it is he 
did not even make interest on his capital. He paid for the privilege of 
working. 

Farm 6. 

Crop acres, 259; excellent. 

Crop index, 134; excellent. 

Receipts per cow (33 cows), $74; good. 

Per cent of receipts from crops, 53 ; excellent. 

Labor income, $3,270. 

This is the highest labor income made by any farmer who sold milk 
at wholesale. With his unusually large area of good crops, he could 
easily raise his labor income to $4000 by keeping better cows. 

After o'ne has studied over large numbers of records it becomes possi- 
ble to tell whether the labor income is poor, good, fair or excellent by 



247 

knowing these few figures. This is the final proof that these are the 
most important factors of profits. This apphes to other types of farming 
equally well. In about five cases out of one hundred, some other factor 
affects the results so decidedly as to make one guess wrong. But on most 
farms, a good sized area of crops and good yields have so strong an influence 
as to overshadow other factors and almost insure good returns if the crops 
are sold or are fed to animals that bring good returns. 

There are some city men in the audience. I may say that all this 
discussion is from results by practical farmers. City persons are most 
likely to fail by putting too much money in buildings and by keeping too 
many men and by doing too many fajicy things that are called scientific 
farming but that are really "folly farming." Experienced farmers do not 
often make serious mistakes on these things. 

A Farmers' Catechism. 

Each farmer will do well to compare his farm with successful farms to 
see where it is weak and then see if it can be improved. 

Are there 80 to 200 acres of crops harvested? If not, can I buy or 
rent more land? 

Are my crop yields 10 to 20 per cent better than my neighbors' who 
have the same soil? If not, will it not pay to improve them? 

Are my cows at least 50 per cent better than my neighbors'? If not, 
how much am I losing on them per year? Had I best stop keeping cows or 
get better ones? 

Am I getting at least 20 per cent of my receipts from the sale of cash 
crops? If not, could I make more by raising cash crops? 

Am I getting at least 20 per cent of my money from animal products? 
If not, am I making good use of low grade farm products and am I and my 
horses kept well employed most of the year? 

[Conference finally adjourned.] 



I 



Appendix 



[Reprint of folder announcing Corn Contest] 
FIRST CORN CONTEST 

OF THE 

CORN EXCHANGE NATIONAL BANK 
Philadelphia 

AT 

COMMERCIAL EXCHANGE, PHILADELPHIA BOURSE 
December 4, 5, 6, 1913 

AT 

PENNSYLVANIA STATE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE 
State College, Pa. 

December 29th to January 3d. 

The American Bankers' Association has come to the conclusion that 
the most useful and profitable work they could undertake is along the line 
of agricultural development and education. 

The Corn Exchange National Bank of Philadelphia has always been 
closely associated with the Grain Exchange (now called the Commercial 
Exchange). So we are in hearty sympathy with the movement and 
believe that better c"rops will mean increased prosperity to all. 

On these broad lines we enlist the co-operation of all banks, news- 
papers, business men and educators in the four States — Pennsylvania, 
New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. 

$1,250 IN PRIZES 

for the best corn grown during 1913 in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, 
Delaware, Maryland, will be given by the 

Corn Exchange National Bank, Philadelphfa. 
Judges to be one representative each from the State Agricultural 
Colleges of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and the 
Commercial (Grain) Exchange, Bourse, Philadelphia. 

The Following Rules Will Govern the Contest. 

1. Entries to consist of not less than ten (10) ears of corn. 

2. All exhibits to be grown by exhibitors within the States of Penn- 
sylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, during the season of 
1913. 

3. Contest open to all competitors. 

4. All general entries must be from fields of one acre or more. 
Entries for boys' prizes alone may be grown in fields of not less than 
one-quarter acre. Boys may compete for general prizes if corn is grown 
in fields of one acre and over. 

(251) 



252 

[Reprint of folder announcing Corn Contest] 

5. Competitors may compete in all lots, but may make but one 
entry in each lot. 

6. Exhibits must be delivered at Corn Exchange National Bank, 
Second and Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia, Pa., not later than December 
1, 1913. If shipped by freight or express, charges must he prepaid. 

7. Each exhibit must be accompanied by instructions, giving name 
and address of exhibitor, together with name of class it is desired to enter. 

8. Packages will be opened and marked by representatives from 
Pennsylvania State College. 

9. Corn will be exhibited at Commercial Exchange, Philadelphia 
Bourse, on December 4, 5 and 6, 1913, and during Farmers' Week at 
Pennsylvania State College, State College, Pa., from December 29th to 
January 3d. 

10. With the exception of a few specimens, which the bank desires 
for exhibition during the year, upon request of the grower, the corn will 
be returned by express (charges collect) to be used for seed. 

SWEEPSTAKE PRIZES. 

Four States. 

Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. All entries 
grown in fields not less than one acre compete for this prize, but prize 
winners will be withdrawn from competition in their regular classes. 

DENT CLASS. 

First prize $100.00 Second prize $50.00 

Third prize $25.00 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

District No. 1. 

Comprising Erie, Crawford, Warren, Mercer, Lawrence, Tioga, 
Bradford, Susquehanna, Wayne, Sullivan Wyoming, Lackawanna, Pike, 
Monroe, McKean, Potter, Venango, Forest, Elk, Cameron, Clarion, 
Jefferson, Butler, Armstrong, Indiana, Clearfield and Cambria Counties. 

- CLASSES OF CORN. 

Yellow Dent. 

First prize $20 . 00 Second prize $10 . 00 

Third prize $5.00 

White Dent. 

First prize $20 . 00 Second prize $10 . 00 

Third prize $5.00 



» 



253 

[Reprint of folder announcing Corn Contest] 
White Cap Yellow Dent. 

First prize $20.00 Second prize $10.00 

Third prize $5.00 

Flint. 

First p*ize $20 . 00 Second prize $10 . 00 

Third prize $5.00 

District No. 2. 

Comprising Beaver, Alleglieny, Westmoreland, Washington, Greene, 
Fayette, Somerset, Clinton, Lycoming, Center, Union Montour, Colum- 
bia, Luzerne, Blair, Huntingdon, Mifflin, Snyder, Northumberland, 
Schuylkill, Carbon, Juniata, Perry, Dauphin, Bedford and Fulton 
Counties. 

Same classes and same number and amount of prizes as in District 
No. 1. 

District No. 3. 

Comprising Franklin, Cumberland, Lebanon, Berks, Lehigh, North- 
ampton, Adams, York, Lancaster, Chester, Montgomery, Bucks, Dela- 
ware, and Philadelphia Counties. 

CLASSES OF CORN. 

Yellow Dent. 

First prize $20.00 Second prize $10.00 

Third prize $5.00 

White Dent. 

First prize $20.00 Second prize $10.00 - 

Third prize $5.00 

White Cap Yellow Dent. 

First prize $20.00 Second prize $10.00 

Third prize $5.00 

DELAWARE. 

From the State .at large. 

CLASSES OP CORN. 

White. 

First prize . $20 . 00 Third prize $10 . 00 

Second prize 15.00 Fourth prize 5.00 



254 

[Reprint of folder announcing Corn Contest] 
Yelloiv. 

First prize $20.00 Third prize $10.00 

Second prize 15.00 Fourth prize 5.00 

MIXED CORN. 

First prize $20 . 00 Third prize ...... |10 . 00 

Second prize 15.00 Fourth prize 5.00 

MARYLAND. 

Same classes and same number and amount of Prizes as Delaware. 

NEW JERSEY. 

South Jersey District comprising Middlesex, Mercer, Monmouth, 
Burlington, Ocean, Camden, Gloucester, Salem, Cumberland, Atlantic, 
Cape May. 

CLASSES OF CORN. 

White. 

First prize $20.00 Third prize $10.00 

Second prize 15.00 Fourth prize 5.00 

Yellow. 

First prize $20 . 00 Third prize $10 . 00 

Second prize 15.00 Fourth prize 5.00 

North Jersey District comprising Somerset, Hunterdon, Union, War- 
ren, Morris, Essex, Hudson, Bergen, Passaic, Sussex. 

North Jersey District same classes and same number and amount of 
prizes as in South Jersey District. 

BOYS' PRIZES. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 
Boys' (under 21) Prizes. 
Corn grown in fields not less than I acre. 

Dent. 

First prize $20 . 00 Third prize ...'... $5 . 00 

Second prize 10.00 Fourth prize 3.00 

Flint. 

First prize $20 . 00 Third prize $5 . 00 

Second prize 10.00 Fourth prize 3.00 



255 

[Reprint of folder announcing Corn Contest] 

NEW JERSEY. 

Boys' (under 21) Prizes. 
Corn grown in fields not less than j acre. 

Dent. 

First prize $20 . 00 Third prize ...... $5 . 00 

Second prize 10 . 00 Fourth prize 3 . 00 

DELAWARE. 

Same conditions, same kind of prize as New Jersey. 

MARYLAND. 

Same conditions and same kind of prizes as New Jersey. 



CORN 

Fkom Pennsylvania State College Bulletin. 

More care should be exercised in purchasing seed corn. There are 
many different corn sections in Pennsylvania, and seed adapted to one 
section may not do well in another section; therefore, seed corn in large 
quantity should not be purchased from other parts of the State or from 
other States where the conditions are entirely different. Tests may be 
made of small amounts of seed of promising varieties and strains before 
they are extensively planted. 

A plat of four rows 3^ feet apart and each containing 42 hills 3 feet 
apart will make approximately 1-25 acre. Six kernels should be planted 
to hill and thinned to three stalks. Varieties thus planted will mix and 
must not be used for seed. 

Corn Im'provement. — The foundation stock must be improved first. 
Two methods are in common use for doing this: (1) The use of a selected 
seed plat. (2) Ear row tests. All seed corn should be carefully selected 
in the field on the stock or purchased on the ear. A germination test 
should be made in the spring before planting and all ears rejected which 
do not germinate 100 per cent. Germination may best be done in boxes 
about 3 inches deep. Fill the box with sand and divide it into squares 
of about 2 inches each. Saturate sand thoroughly with water. Arrange 
the ears in rows and number them. Take six kernels, 2 each from near 
butt, from the center and from near tip of the ear and place them in the 
moist sand in regular order. Cover the box with a pane of glass and keep 
at temperature of living room. 



256 

[Reprint folder announcing Corn Contest] 

1. The selected seed plat. This consists of a plat of ground isolated 
from all other corn, at least fifty rods, if possible and large enough to grow 
the quantity of seed desired. Select a few of the very best seed ears and 
shell together for this plat. During growing season, cut out all barren, 
dwarfed and diseased stalks before they have produced any pollen (before 
tasseling). For the second year, the very best ears from above may be 
used for another plat, etc. 

2. Ear to row method. This method is the best for improving corn 
rapidly and for getting the very best results, but it requires careful work 
and much of it. The general plan is to select 100 of the best ears from 
the variety to be improved and number each ear securely. Shell half of 
each ear and plant it in a row numbered to correspond. (By planting 
in rows 3| feet apart and 42 hills, 3 feet apart to the row, each row will 
contain approximately 1-100 of an acre). Six grains should be planted to 
a hill and stand thinned to three stalks. These rows should be studied 
during the growing season, and all the desirable features which they develop 
should be noted down for reference. At harvesting time each row should 
be harvested separately and weighed. The best ears from ten of the very 
best of these rows should be selected for field planting. By shelling together 
the remainder of these same parent ears and planting in an increase plat 
the following year, provision may be made for selecting good ears for the 
next year's row tests. All row plats should be isolated, as described above. 
This plan provides for a succession of seed plat and row test on altern^e 
years (this test may also be conducted in a co-operative way or by one 
farmer in each community, who will supply seed to his neighbor). If 
carefully followed, the improved seed which it will yield will well repay 
the time and money involved. There is at present a great demand for 
improved seed corn in all parts of Pennsylvania. 

Care of Seed. — Seed corn should be carefully dried and stored in a 
warm, dry and well-ventilated place. A wire cage in a warm attic makes 
an ideal storage place. 



& 



[Reprint of "folder" sent out by the Corn Exchange National Bank of 
Philadelphia for their Corn Contest] 

SUGGESTIONS ON SELECTING CORN FOR EXHIBITION. 

FIRST CORN CONTEST 

OF THE 

CORN EXCHANGE NATIONAL BANK OF PHILADELPHIA, 

December 4, 5 and 6, 1913. 



SUGGESTIONS ON SELECTING CORN FOR EXHIBITION. 

By Prof. A. E. Granthan, 
Delaware College Agricultural Experiment Station. 

Before selecting corn for an exhibit, study the requirements of the 
score card, in order to have a definite idea of the characteristics of a good 
ear. The next thing to do is to select an ear of corn which is most nearly 
like the idea in mind. Then pick out a considerable number of ears which 
approach the ideal ear. From this number select the number, ten or 
twenty as the case may be, for the exhibit. One of the most important 
points to consider in selecting an exhibit is the uniformity of the ears. 
In other words, all the ears of the exhibit should look alike. In corn 
breeding as well as in animal breeding, results will be most rapidly accom- 
plished only when particular types are developed. Thus each exhibit 
should present a definite type. It is not so important what this type is, 
provided it has the characteristics of good corn, but care should be taken 
to have the exhibit represent some type. For this reason the ears 
exhibited should have, as nearly as possible, the same length, the same 
diameter, the same shade of color, the same character of indentation, the 
same size, width and shape of kernel, and the same sort of butts, tips and 
cobs. See that the ears are sound, mature, free from injury, and that 
kernels are not shelled off. 

DIRECTIONS FOR USING SCORE CARD. 

Uniformity of Exhibit [15]. 

The ears of an exhibit should be uniform in size, color and indenta- 
tion. Judge the exhibit separately for each of these characters. The 
15 points will allow 5 to be given to size, 5 to color, and 5 to indentation; 
or, in other words, each ear will be allowed | point under each of these 
heads. For each ear that varies in the above characters, cut from i to | 
point each. Add these cuts together for total cut of uniformity of exhibit. 

(257) 



258 

[Reprint of ''folder" sent out by the Corn Exchange National Bank of 
Philadelphia for their Corn Contest] 

Maturity and Market Condition [15j. 

Ears should be firm and free from injury or decay spots. The firm- 
ness of the ear is best determined by twisting in the hand or by moving 
the kernels with the thumb. Cut not to exceed 1^ points for each ear 
that is defective. 

Purity (as Shown by Color) of Kernel [5]. 

Kernels should be free from mixture of corn of opposite color. In 
yellow corn the mixture is shown on the caps of the kernels, in white corn 
on the sides. For each kernel in an ear showing such mixture cut j point, 
except in mixed corn, where this does not apply. 

Purity (as Shown by Color) of Cob [5]. 

Cobs should be of one color; in yellow corn they are usually red; in 
white corn, white. For each cob opposite in color to the prevailing type 
cut 2 points. For pink cobs cut J to ^ point, according to shade or color. 
Two cobs of opposite color shall bar the exhibit. 

Shape of Ear [10]. 

The shape should approach the cylindrical, which indicates that depth 
of kernel is maintained from butt to tip. A cylindrical ear usually means 
a greater per cent of corn to cob, and a larger number of kernels of 
uniform size and shape for planting. Cut j to 1 point for each ear that 
tapers too greatly. 

Proportion of Length to Circumference [10]. 

The ratio of circumference to length should be approximately as 3 
to 4, or the circumference measured at a point one-third of the distance 
from butt to tip should be three-fourths of the length. A ten-inch ear 
should be approximately seven and one-half inches in circumference. 
Cut not to exceed 1 point for each ear. 

Shape and Uniformity of Kernels [10]. 

The kernels should be uniform in size and shape. They should be 
slightly wedge-shape with straight edges so as to fit tightly together, but 
should be pointed. Remove three kernels from each ear for comparison. 
Cut I to 1 point for each ear with poor kernels. 

Butts [5]. 

The butts should be well-rounded out with deep regular kernels, 
solidly compacted together around a clean cup-shaped cavity. The 



259 

[Reprint of "folder" sent out by the Corn Exchange National Bank of 
Philadelphia for their Corn Contest] 

shank should be medium in size, so as not to be difficult to break off when 
husking. Cut not to exceed ^ point for each badly formed butt. 

Tips [5]. 

Deep kernels shall fill put the end of the ear in as regular rows as 
possible. The ideal tip is completely covered, but if the kernels are deep 
and regular out even to the end of the cob, no cut need be given. 

Space Between Rows [5]. 

Furrow between rows should be narrow, with the kernels fitting 
closely together at the cob, but not crowded. Cut not to exceed | point 
for each ear. 

Proportion of Corn to Ear [15]. 

The proportion of corn to ear should be not less than 85 per cent. 
The per cent is best determined by shelling and weighing representative 
ears. It can be estimated by taking into account the depth and shape of 
kernel, the filling out of butt and tips, the size of cob and degree of 
maturity. Cut 1| points for each per cent the exhibit falls below 85 per 
cent. 

SCORE CARD. 

Uniformity of Exhibit 15 

Maturity and market condition 15 

Purity (as shown by color) of cob 5 

Purity (as shown by color) of kernel 5 

Shape of ear 10 

Proportion of length to circumference 10 

Shape and uniformity of kernel 10 

Butts 5 

Tips 5 

Space between rows 5 

Proportion of corn to ear 15 

100 



260 



[Reprint of Stationery.] 

CORN EXCHANGE NATIONAL BANK. 

Corn Show and Agricultural Conference. 

Bourse Building; Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 
December 4, 5, 6, 1913. 

Assisted by 

The Commercial Exchange PHILADELPHIA 

The University of Pennsylvania 

State College of Pennsylvania 

Pennsylvania Rural Progress Ass'n 

City Club of Philadelphia 

Philadelphia Society for Promoting 
Agriculture 



C. S. Calwell, Chairman 

President Com Exchange National Bank 

Clarence Sears Kates 

Chairman of the Joint Committee 
Pennsylvania Rural Progress Association 

Vice-Chairmen 

Antonio Sans 

President Commercial Exchange 

Robert C. Wright 

F. T. M., Pennsylvania Railroad Co. 

Walter Horstmann 

Vice-President Chamber of Commerce 

D. T. Fleisher 

Pres., Merchants & Manufacturers Ass'n 

Wm. M. Coates 

President Board of Trade 

Harry Nusbalim 

Pres. Philadelphia Produce Exchange 

Clarence Sears Kates 

Pennsylvania Rural Progress Ass'n 

Charles Z. Tryon 

Hardware Merchants & Manuf'rs Ass'n 

J. Bertram Lippincott 

Philadelphia Society for the Promotion of 
Agriculture 

Edgar Fahs Smith 

Provost University of Pennsylvania 

N. B. Kelly, Treasurer 

Secretary Chamber of Commerce 

D. W. SuMMERFiELD, Secretary 
9 North Thirteenth Street 
Sec'y Merchants & Manufacturers Ass'n 

Manager of the Conference 
Mrs. Edith Ellicott Smith 
President Penna. Rural Progress Ass'n 

P. O. Box 1905 



PRIZES AWARDED IN CORN CONTEST. 



The following prize winners were announced today by the judges 
in the Corn Contest conducted by the Corn Exchange National Bank the 
past season, the entries in which comprised the exhibits in the Corn Show 
held in the Philadelphia Bourse Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The 
contest was open to farmers of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and 
Maryland, and was for the best ten ears of corn grown on an acre or more 
of ground this year. Ninety-six separate prizes were offered, ranging 
from $3 to $100, and totaling $1,250. The judges were: Samuel L. 
McKnight, representing the Commercial Exchange; Professor F. D. Gard- 
ner, Pennsylvania State College; Professor L. N. Merrill, New Jersey 
Agricultural Experiment Station; A. E. Grantham, Delaware State Col- 
lege; and Nicholas Schmitz, Maryland Agricultural College. 

Sweepstakes. 

First prize $100 G. D. Radebaugh, Bynum, Md. 

Second prize 50 Clarence A. Mellinger, Ronks, Pa. 

Third prize 25 James T. Shallcross, Middletown, Del. 

Special Prizes for Ohio Boys. 

First prize $25 William C. Kirk, Jeffersonville, Ohio 

Second prize. ..'... 20 Jay Lawrence, Coshocton, Ohio 

Third prize 15 Howard C. Vannorsdall, Jeffersonville, Ohio 

Fom-th prize 10 Walter S. Blamer, Johnstown, Ohio 

Pennsylvania. 

First District. 

Yellow Dent, First prize $20 Arthur F. Hickok, Troy, Pa. 

Yellow Dent, Second prize. ... 10 D. K. Sloan, Canton, Pa. 

Yellow Dent, Third prize 5 Jacob Gorley, Everette, Pa. 

White Cap Yellow Dent, First prize. . $20 Edgar M. Wilkinson, Erie, Pa. 

Flint, First prize $20 D. K. Sloan, Canton, Pa. 

Second District. 

Yellow Dent, First prize $20 Sylvester S. Sheller, Duncannon, Pa. 

Yellow Dent, Second prize .... 10 Wallace Haberman, Andreas, Pa. 

Yellow Dent, Third prize 5 

White Cap Yellow Dent, First prize. . $20 WilUam Claney, Antes Fort, Pa. 

Flint, First prize $20 Wallace Haberman, Andreas, Pa. 

(261) 



262 

Third Di-HiricL. 

Yellow J)(;Mi, First, j)riz(! ,. $20 A. :U]<1 'W Oowdl, AvondnJc;, Pa. 

Yellow Dent, Second prize. . . . 10 1'>J. Al(;xander, Uniorivilie, Pa. 

Yellow Dent, Third prize 5 Ilcinry Palmer, Avondale, Pa. 

White Dent, Firnt prize $20 Pen. Harris, Newtown, Pa. 

White Dent, Second prize 10 Joseph Brigf^s, Yardley, Pa. 

White Dent, Third prize 5 J. W. Burkhart & Son, Lititz, Pa. 

White Cap Yellow D(;nt, Fir.st prize;. . , $20 Harry B. Ilerr, Lancaster, Pa. 

White Cap Yellow Dent, Second prize; . . 10 i:)avid M. Landis, Lancaster, Pa. 

White Cap Yellow Dent, Third prize 5 G. W. and C. A. Row, Yardley, Pa. 

Dklawaue. 

White; Dent, First prize $20 Naudain & Son, Marshallton, Dd. 

White D(;iit, Second prize 15 A. S. Whittock, Middletown, D(;l. 

Wliite D(;iit, Third jjrize 10 Harvey liall, Stanton, D(;l. 

White Dent, Fourth jjrize 5 Horace A. Dilworth, Montclianin, Del. 

Yellow Dent, First prize $20 Naudain & Son, Marshallton, Del. 

Yellow Dent, Second prize. ... 15 Horace A. Dilworth, Montchanin, Del. 

Yellow Dent, Third prize 10 A. S. Whittock, Middletown, Del. 

Yellow Dent, Fourth prize. ... 5 W. H. Shaeller, New Castle, Del. 

Mixed Corn, First prize $20 Naudain & Son, Marshallton, Del. 

Mixed Corn, Second prize 15 Harvey Ball, Stanton, Del. 

Mixed Corn, Third prize 10 Horace A. Dillworth, Montchanin, Del. 

Mixed Corn, Fourth prize 5 Harvey Walker, Marshallton, Del. 

Mauyland. 

White Dent, First prize $20 Josiah Masscy, Chestertown, Md. 

White Dent, Second prize 15 W. L. Tucker, Forest Hill, Md. 

White Dent, Third prize 10 A. 15. Twining, Forest Hill, Md. 

White Dent, Fourtli prize 5 Oa]<land F'arin, Havre de Grace, Md. 

Yellow Dent, First i)rize $20 A. B. Twining, Forest Hill, Md. 

Yelk>w Dent, Second prize. ... 15 Oakland F'arrn, Havre de Grace, Md. 

Yellow Dent, Third prize 10 James R. Galbraith, Street P. O., Md. 

Yellow Dent, F'ourth prize .... 5 Jas. B. Clarke, Ellicott City, Md. 

Mixed Corn, l''irst prize $20 John L. Stevens, Rising Sun, Md. 

Mixed Corn, Second prize 15 W. Irving Walker, Chestertown, Md. 

Mixed Corn, Third prize 10. . . Bohemia Hill Farm, Earlville, Md. 

New Jkukioy. 

tSoulh Didrict. 

White Corn, First prize $20 Minch Bros., Bridgeton, N. J. 

White Corn, S(;(;ond prize 15 Clar(;nce H. I'Vjgg, Bridgeton, N. J. 

White (>)rn, Third prize 10 Allen Ackley, Bridgeton, N. J. 

White C'orn, Fourth prize 5 Maurice Vennell, Marlton, N. J. 

Yellow Dent, First prize $20 Henry S. Lippincott, Marlton, N. J. 

Yellow Dent, Second ])rize . ... 15 R. B. Wander, Bridgeton, N. J. 

Yellow Dent, Third prize 10 C. H. Pew, Mount Holly, N. J. 

Yellow Dent, Fourth prize. ... 5 Wilmer Collins, Merchantville, N. J. 



263 



Mixed Corn, First prize S20 Ceorj^e Sharp, Bridj^eiori, N. J. 

Mixed Corn, Second prize 15 William Sherman, Mount Jfolly, N. J. 

Mixed Com, Third prize 10 1'homaH A. Gracey, Burlin^lon, N. J. 

Mixed Corn, Fourth prize 5 Charles Scott, Sewell, N. J. 

IjOVK' I'liV/.KH. 

Prmnaylvania . 

Dent Corn, First prize S20 Fred Coates, (Jochranville, Pa. 

iJent Com, S(;cond prize 10 Fred Frick, Pine Forge, Pa. 

Dent Corn, '^i'hird prize 5 Albert (). limckart, Lititz, Pa. 

Dent Corn, Fourth prize 3 Aldon A. Wilson, Newtown, Pa. 



l-'lint Corn, First fjrizo 20. 

fSinj/je entry. J 



.Clarence Small, Jietlilehem, J'a. 



A''ew; Jemey. 

Dent Corn, i'irst prize $20 Paymond liarr'iH, Deerfield, N. J. 

J^ent Corn, Second prize 10 liasil Sholl, Purlington, N. J. 

Dent Corn, 'J'hird prize o Jfarry A. Drew, Vernon, N. J. 

Dent Corn, Fourth prize '6 Howard E. Wills, Marlt/jn, N. J. 



Dent CoiTi, First prize $20 (^<:<>. VV. Pa^lebaug^j, Bynurn, Md. 

Dent Com, Second prize 10 Ru.ssell Oalbraith, Street P. O., Md, 

Dent Corn, 'J'hird prize 5 Edward Ady, Sharon, Md. 



Report on Potato Embargo Considered at a Hearing Conducted 
BY THE Special Commission of the Department of Agriculture, 
Held in Washington, December 18, 1913. 



By Clarence Sears Kates, Delegate. 



The hearing was held for the purpose of discussing whether it is pos- 
sible to safeguard this country from ImoAvn foreign potato diseases which 
have been inspected and pronounced free from infestation by foreign 
experts. 

If deemed feasible, this would be accomplished by placing the potato 
under the plant quarantine act, which now governs nursery stock only. 
Otherwise, the alternatives either to exclude them absolutely by quaran- 
tme or to allow their free entry without any supervision or inspection to 
guard against disease. Also, to add to the potato diseases already under 
ban the new disease Imown as Powdery Smut. 

Those in attendance were delegates from all of the potato growing 
states — Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 
Maryland, Virginia, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Idaho, Colorado — 
made up of pathologists, farmers, commission men and consumers; also 
Senators and members of Congress from a number of these states. 

The foreign governments of Ireland, Scotland, England and Dominion 
of Canada (as well as the nation of Great Britain), Holland and Belgium, 
were each represented by delegates specially sent to this country for attend- 
ance at this hearing. This shows the great importance of the question in- 
volved. 

The United States Government, through, the Commission, made it 
clear at the outset that no consideration of the economic effect of the de- 
cision could be considered. It was in the same category as the estab- 
lishment of a quarantine against the human disease of small-pox. The 
point to establish is— Is there a disease? If so, is it infectious? If in- 
fectious, is it a menace? If a menace, how shall this country guard against 
its spread? 

It was established to all present at this hearing that all the above 
features were proved. Also, that the disease existed in the Dominion of 
Canada, Newfoundland, Ireland and Scotland, and the continent of 
Europe. This was proven from the printed reports of the pathologists 
of the respective countries, and that there was no known preventive 
or cure of the new disease of Powdery Scab. The United States inspect- 
ors had noted the old disease of "potato scab" or "black wart" and the 
new one of "powdery scab" in almost all of the importations examined 
at the docks where potatoes enter and consisting of a very large percentage. 

(264) 



265 

It was claimed that the fact of foreign potatoes not being used for 
seed did not mitigate the danger. The menace existed from the parings 
being used in the refuse fed to animals both in city and country, and the 
resultant manure infects the soil. 

Colorado showed that in one district of that state the entire potato 
industry was destroyed through the introduction of an infectious disease. 
It was also stated by pathologists that whereas the diseases would be 
in a mild form in one area, the introduction to another area had been 
known to cause a virulent form to develop. 

The loss on the crops in the infected areas, of which there are already 
a number in the United States, amounts to one-third to one-half the 
value of non-infected areas. And the potatoes themselves are a loss to 
the consumer. 

The foreign representatives' statements were devoted to minimizing 
the virulence of the diseases and also that there were but few areas infected 
and that it would be confined to those areas, which would be, they claimed, 
a simple matter. That new bags only would be used, inspection and cer- 
tijfication of the most ample and satisfactory kind would be furnished, 
etc. 

I was present throughout the entire hearing, with the exception of 
about fifteen minutes — the session lasted from 10 a. m. to 12.50 p. m. 
and 2.30 p. m. to 5,30 p. m. My belief is four individuals (other than 
the foreign delegates) expressed any sentiment but that the most strin- 
gent quarantine should be established — resulting in absolute prohibition 
of entry within our borders. It was also indicated that even though this 
prohibited Canada importations into United States, the Dominion Gov- 
ernment (though advocating admission from Great Britain and the Con- 
tinent on foreign certificate of freedom from infection) would feel impelled 
to take the same protective steps as the United States. Of the four Ameri- 
cans who did not concur, two thought that a foreign certificate would prob- 
ably accomplish sufficient protection. And two others (members of 
Congress, one from Pennsylvania and one from New York) pleaded for 
general admission on the basis of competition lowering the price. Of 
course, the decision of the Commission was reserved, and no indication 
of time they would give the decision was given. 

From time to time the economic results of the quarantine were intro- 
duced. In that relation the statement was made that the crop for 1913 
was for a ten year average, twelve million bushels above normal. The 
crop for 1913 amounted to 331 million bushels. The per capita consump- 
tion lies between three to four bushels. The largest importation ever 
received was thirteen million bushels. The claim of a shortage this year 
is due to the comparison with the abnormal crop of 1912. 



[Reprint of decision in re Potato quarantine.] 



UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 

Office of the Secretary. 
Federal Horticultural Board. 



Notice of Quarantine No. 11 (Foreign). 



Potato Quarantii^e. 

The fact has been determined by the Secretary of Agriculture that 
injurious potato diseases, including the powdery scab (Spongospora sub- 
terranea) , new to and not heretofore widely prevalent or distributed within 
and throughout the United States, exist in the Dominion of Canada, 
Newfoundland, the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, Great Britain, 
Ireland, and Continental Europe, and are coming to the United States 
with imported potatoes. 

Now, therefore, I, David F. Houston, Secretary of Agriculture, 
under the authority conferred by section 7 of the act of Congress approved 
August 20, 1912, known as "The Plant Quarantine Act" (37 United 
States Statutes at Large, page 315), do hereby declare that it is necessary, 
in order to prevent the introduction into the United States of such potato 
diseases, to forbid the importation into the United States, from the coun- 
tries hereinbefore named, of the common or Irish potato (Solanum tuber o- 
suni) until such time as it shall have been ascertained, to the satisfaction 
of the Secretary of Agriculture, that the country or locality from which 
potatoes are offered for import is free from such potato diseases. 

On and after December 24, 1913, and until further notice, by virtue 
of said section 7 of the act of Congress approved August 20, 1912, the 
importation, from the countries hereinbefore named, of the common or 
Irish potato, except for experimental or scientific purposes by the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, is prohibited: Provided, That shipments of such 
potatoes loaded prior to December 24, 1913, as shown by consular invoices, 
will be permitted entry up to and including January 15, 1914. 

Done at Washington this 22d day of December, 1913. 

Witness my hand and the seal of the United States 
Department of Agriculture. 

David F. Houston, 
Secretary of Agricidture. 

[For further ''Notices," Amendments, etc., on this topic apply to 
the Federal Horticultural Board, U. S. Dept. Agric, Washington, D. C] 

(266) 



[Announcing the formation of the Philadelphia Agricultural Service 
Bureau, names of the Committee and scope of the work.] 

STATEMENT. 



By Charles S. Calwell, 
President, Corn Exchange National Bank, Philadelphia. 



At the Agricultural Conference, which was held in Philadelphia City 
Hall, in December, I was asked to appoint a committee to establish an 
Agricultural Service Bureau, to act as a clearing-house for agricultural 
information and to establish mutually advantageous relations between 
the farmer and the Philadelphia market. After giving the matter very 
careful consideration, I have appointed the following gentlemen: Robert 
C. Wright, A. B. Ross, Clarence Sears Kates, Edward T. Butterworth, 
John P. Connelly, Louis Graff, George W. Norris, Charles S. Calwell. 

This committee will work in close harmony with the State College of 
Pennsylvania, the Experiment Stations of New Jersey, Delaware and 
Maryland, also the U. S. Department of Agriculture. 

The objects of the committee and its personnel have received the 
hearty approval of the Mayor and the Administration in general. 

Mr. Wright is Freight Traffic Manager of the Pennsylvania Railroad 
Company, was formerly General Freight Agent of the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road Company, and is very much interested in the development of agri- 
culture along the Pennsylvania Railroad lines. 

Mr. A. B. Ross is County Agent of Bedford County, Pa., United 
States Department of Agriculture. His work has attracted national 
attention, and the Government at Washington, after investigating his 
work in Bedford County, decided to use his work as a basis for county 
agents' work throughout the United States, and now has in course of 
preparation a Farmers' Bulletin describing the work that has been ac- 
complished in that county. 

Mr. Edward T. Butterworth is in the commission produce business 
on Dock street. He is president of the Philadelphia Branch of the 
National League of Commission Merchants of the United States. He has 
been of great help to the farmers in teaching them how to pack their pro- 
duce for shipment into the Philadelphia market. He is an expert in his 
line, and will keep the Bureau in close touch with the commission trade, 
so that practical information can be given to the farmer as to the stan- 
dardization needs and requirements for growing, packing and shipping to 
Philadelphia. 

(267) 



268 

John P. Coimelly is attorney for the Philadelphia Warehousing and 
Cold Storage Company, and has made a close study of the cold storage 
business, which is essential to the proper preservation of food products. 

Louis Graff will also serve on the committee. He is president of 
the Commercial Exchange and is interested in farming on his personal 
account. Mr. Graff is in close touch with the grain markets, not only 
of Philadelphia, but throughout the country. 

Director George W. Norris has taken particular interest in the devel- 
opment of the city of Philadelphia and recognizes the importance of 
bringing the farmers of the surrounding territory in close touch with the 
city. 

Clarence Sears Kates has been, for many years, interested in the 
question of agriculture. He is a member of the Executive Committee of 
the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, vice-president of 
the Pennsylvania Rural Progress Association, member of Pennsylvania 
State Grange, and has always taken a personal interest in these public 
questions and owns a three hundred and fifty acre farm. Mr. Kates will 
act as secretary for the Bureau. 

Plan of Work. 

The Philadelphia Agricultural Service Bureau will endeavor to work 
along the following lines: 

First.— Supplying agricultural information to growers and producers; 
answering inquiries of farmers along those lines; placing him in commu- 
nication with responsible distributors to the mutual advantage of the 
farmer and the Philadelphia market. 

Second. — Assisting banks and financial institutions to develop agri- 
culture in their particular sections by arranging for agricultural meetings, 
supplying speakers and helping with agricultural contests and shows. 

Third. — Standardization. In other words, recommending methods 
to standardize the farm products beginning with the seed, then harvesting; 
sorting, and placing in such standard package as best practice demands. 
This work is of primary importance, and is the keynote for the farmer's 
selling his produce to his best advantage. 

Fourth. — Stimulating the establishment of farm bureaus in all coun- 
ties, so that information may be quickly obtained from the agent in charge, 
and given directly to the farmer on his own farm. This for the purpose 
of increasing the farmer's management efficiency, which will tend to re- 
duce his cost of production and increase the size of his crop. 

Fifth.— Establishing connections with the county agents, farmers' 
associations, etc., wherever located, and the Philadelphia Agricultural 
Service Bureau for interchange of information, both as to supplies for 
the farms and for produce for the Philadelphia market. 



269 

Sixth. — To stimulate the making of soil surveys and farm manage- 
ment surveys. 

All communications should be addressed to the Honorary Secretary, 
Clarence Sears Kates, Corn Exchange Bank Building, Second and Chest- 
nut streets, Philadelphia, Pa. 

The Bureau has informally already accomplished good. It is daily 
having inquiries from farmers, out-of-town banks and business men for 
advice as to the improvement of agricultural conditions in the four states. 
We helped to secure for the Farm Bureau in West Chester, through the 
County Commissioners, $1,000, and we are endeavoring at the present 
time to have a county agent established in Fayette County and Monroe 
County. The Philadelphia Vegetable Growers' Association (a new asso- 
ciation just started at Bustleton), has asked the Bureau to help them in 
trying to secure the convention of the Vegetable Growers' Association 
of America, to be held in October, for this city. We have promised our 
support to this, and plans are already under way to endeavor to have the 
convention held here. 



